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In her own words

A Bird, came down the Walk

Emily Dickinson · 1830-1886

A Bird came down the Walk –He did not know I saw –He bit an Angleworm in halvesAnd ate the fellow, raw,
And then he drank a DewFrom a convenient Grass –And then hopped sidewise to the WallTo let a Beetle pass –
He glanced with rapid eyesThat hurried all around –They looked like frightened Beads, I thought –He stirred his Velvet Head –
Like One in danger, Cautious,I offered him a CrumbAnd he unrolled his feathersAnd rowed him softer home –
Than Oars divide the Ocean,Too silver for a seam,Or Butterflies, off Banks of NoonLeap, plashless as they swim.

See it in her own handAmherst College, Archives & Special Collections, page 1 of 3

The poems here are transcribed from Dickinson's own manuscripts, which are in the public domain. Her dashes, capital letters, and spellings are kept as she wrote them, so these read differently from the smoothed versions printed after her death. The manuscript images are reproduced courtesy of the libraries that hold them: the Boston Public Library (no known copyright restrictions), Amherst College Archives and Special Collections (free for non-commercial and educational use, with credit), and the Houghton Library at Harvard University, whose policy permits publishing images of its public-domain holdings. The modern dash-faithful scholarly editions remain under copyright and are not used here.