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 around
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