A Bird Came Down the Walk

A bird came down the walk: 

He did not know I saw; 

He bit an angle-worm 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, splashless, as they swim.

- Emily Dickinson