A Bird Came Down the Walk

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 abroad —

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.

The closing stanza heightens the lyric’s imaginative intensity:

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon

Leap, plashless as they swim.

A Bird Came Down the Walk engages with several interrelated themes:

The poem reflects Dickinson’s Romantic sensibilities while foregrounding a keenly individual perspective, blending careful observation with imaginative reflection.