The Poems of Emily Dickinson, Variorum Edition, Franklin, 1998
Emily Dickinson Archive
A bird came down the walk; He did not know I saw; He bit an angle-wormangleworm in halves And ate the fellow raw. And then he drank a dewFrom a convenient grass, And then hopped sidewise to a wall, To let a beetle pass.He glanced with rapid eyes That hurried all around;They looked like frightened beads, I thought; He stirred his velvet head Like one in danger, cautious. I offered him a crumb, And he unrolled his feathersAnd rowed him softer home Than oars divide the ocean, Too silver for a seam - Or butterflies, off banks of noon, Leap, plashless as they swim.