by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Within my Garden, rides a Bird
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE GER
Within my Garden, rides a Bird
[Opon]1 a single Wheel --
Whose spokes a dizzy Music make
As 'twere a travelling Mill --

He never stops, but slackens --
Above the Ripest Rose -
Partakes without alighting --
And praises as he goes,

Till every spice is tasted --
And then his Fairy Gig
Reels in remoter atmospheres --
And I rejoin my Dog,

And He and I, perplex us
If positive, 'twere we --
Or bore the Garden in the Brain
This Curiosity -

But He, the best Logician,
Refers my clumsy eye --
To just vibrating Blossoms!
An Exquisite Reply!

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   J. Philips 

About the headline (FAQ)

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Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 2, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 370. Note: in one of the earlier published versions of this poem, stanza 5, line 2, word 3 was "duller" instead of "clumsy".

1 [sic] ; Philips: "Upon"

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Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-28
Line count: 20
Word count: 93