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