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2.Who is he that would become my follower?
Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?
Are you he?

3.The way is suspicious—the result slow, uncertain,
may-be destructive;
You would have to give up all else—I alone would
expect to be your God, sole and exclusive,
Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,
The whole past theory of your life, and all conformity
to the lives around you, would have to be abandoned;
Therefore release me now, before troubling yourself
any further—Let go your hand from my
shoulders,
Put me down, and depart on your way.

4.Or else, only by stealth, in some wood, for trial,
Or back of a rock, in the open air,
(For in any roofed room of a house I emerge not—
nor in company,
And in libraries I lie as one dumb, a gawk, or unborn,
or dead,)
But just possibly with you on a high hill—first
watching lest any person, for miles around,
approach unawares,
Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of
the sea, or some quiet island,
Here to put your lips upon mine I permit you,
With the comrade's long-dwelling kiss, or the new
husband's kiss,
For I am the new husband, and I am the comrade.