Classic Poem

We were just brothers — that was all:
Just two men who loved each other and never gave an account of our love,
Just workers in the world whose work was the sorrow and the joy of each other in days of failure and days of success.
I used to ask my brother why he loved me and he said he did not know,
And then he would ask me why I loved him and I too said I did not know:
And so we went about with each other happy in our sweet secret,
Went about with each other not being too curious regarding the mystery of our dear partnership.
I never used to feel mean in the presence of my brother:
He always seemed to fill me with the sense of grace and nobility
I never was made to feel small before the measure of my brother:
He always seemed to quote me in as big figures as his own.
The roots of my brother and the roots of me met somewhere in the ground below,
The soul of my brother and the soul of me met somewhere in the immortal heavens above:
I did not seem to mind his sins and he did not seem to worry when I offended:
We went every hour hand in hand and did not question the way —
The night was black: we did not question the night:
The storms threatened: we did not question the storms:
We did not question the ugliness of the day or the beauty of the day,
We did not question the blessings that came or the blessings that were withheld:
We went every minute hand in hand as brothers may go who find brotherhood the full answer to all the doubts and all the assurances of the soul
I never felt as though I could wake up any morning and find my brother gone,
Or as if they could ever bear my brother away and bury him in a grave,
Or as if he might be led off somewhere by a superior love,
Or as if I could lose him anyhow by any act of his own or any act of others,
Or as if in the very worst that could happen to me he was not always and forever the very best that could happen to me
My brother was my brother — that was the least and the most I could say:
The tree was a tree — that was the least and the most I could say about the tree:
The song was the song — that was the least and the most I could say about the song:
And so with our darling loves — they were just our darling loves and that was the least and the most I could say about our loves
If I undertook to say more or less I could only say goodbye and withdraw and shut the door of brotherhood behind me.
I was very fond of my brother and he was very fond of me but we did not tell each other so — we did not make too much of that:
We liked to be around with each other — that seemed to be about all there was to it.
The philosopher came to us and said: Explain this to me in a theory:
The mathematician came to us and said: Explain this to me in figures:
The poet came to us and said: Explain this to me in a song:
The artist came to us and said: Explain this to me in a picture:
Yes — they all came to us and said: Explain this mysterious thing in words of our trades.
We shook our heads: how could we? we could not even explain it to ourselves:
We could just keep the road we had chosen and follow it to the end:
We could just go on being brothers and expanding in brotherhood:
We were just two men who loved each other and never gave an account of our love:
We were just brothers — that was all.