A Bird Came Down the Walk

by Emily Dickinson

　　

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Also referred to as In the Garden, Dickinson's poem is a vivid account of a bird eating a worm. It's typically taught in fourth or fifth grade, reminding students they don't necessarily need to travel far in order to find drama and compose great poetry. A Bird Came Down the Walk offers Dickinson's typical rhyme scheme: iambic trimeter.

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　　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.

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A Bird Came Down the Walk was featured as TheShort Story of the Day on Tue, May 16, 2023

　　

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Featured in our collection of Children's Poems

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