1.  tenor-baritone soli, marimba/vibraphone, violoncello; or
2. tenor-baritone soli, SSAATTBB a cappella

 

We Two Boys Together Clinging may be performed in its original setting for tenor-bass duet accompanied by violoncello and marimba/vibraphone, or in the reworking for tenor-bass duet and a cappella choir (SSAATTBB).

In the second version, it is part of “Not an End of Loving,” a set of three love songs for choir.

We Two Boys Together Clinging

We two boys together clinging,
One the other never leaving,
Up and down the roads going—North and South excursions making,
Power enjoying—elbows stretching—fingers clutching,
Arm’d and fearless—eating, drinking, sleeping, loving,
No law less than ourselves owning—sailing, soldiering, thieving, threatening,
Misers, menials, priests alarming—air breathing, water drinking, on the turf or the sea-beach dancing,
Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feebleness chasing,
Fulfilling our foray.

-Walt Whitman (1819-1892)