Emily Dickinson

A narrow Fellow in the Grass (986)

A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides – You may have met Him – did you not His notice sudden is – The Grass divides as with a Comb – A spotted shaft is seen – And then it closes at your feet And opens further on – He likes a Boggy Acre A Floor too cool for Corn Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot – I more than once at Noon Have passed, I thought, a Whip lash Unbraiding in the Sun When stooping to secure it It wrinkled, and was gone – Several of Nature's People I know, and they know me – I feel for them a transport Of cordiality – But never met this Fellow Attended, or alone Without a tighter breathing And Zero at the Bone – This is one of Dickinson’s ten poems that were printed during her lifetime. It appeared in the Springfield Republican in 1866 with an added title—“The Snake”—and altered punctuation.