They Ask Each Other Where They Came From — Summary

A speaker wonders aloud about how two people came to be together, using rivers, valleys, birds, and sky as a way of asking an enormous question. The opening images are tender and paired: one person seems like a river, the other like a valley, and their closeness feels as natural as white birds flying over water. The middle lines widen that intimacy into a single shared world—day as a bowl of blue sky, night as a bowl of red stars. There is no clear answer, and the poem does not try to force one. Instead, the final question turns toward mystery: who, in the first swirl of nothingness, chose you and placed you here? The speaker feels awe and attachment, not confusion. The mood is hushed, slightly dreamlike, and full of wonder at the strangeness of being alive alongside someone else.