A bird came down the walk

A bird came down the walk;
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm[^a1] in halves
And ate the fellow raw.

[^a1: angle-worm | angleworm]

And then he drank a dew
From 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 feathers
And 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.