A Bird came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Bird came down the Walk -
He did not know I saw -
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass -
And then hopped sidewise to the 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 sofer home -
Than Oars divide the Ocean -
Too silver for a seam -
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.
Dickinson's life was reduced to a few essentials (Thoreau, in comparison, was a boulevardier and globetrotter). She had the leisure to compose hundreds of poems and the patience to devote herself to detailed observations of the minute particulars of the world.