How soft a Caterpillar steps —
I find one on my Hand
From such a Velvet world it comes
Such plushes at command
Its soundless travels just arrest
My slow — terrestrial eye
Intent upon its own career
What use has it for me —
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 3, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 1523.
Note: Two misprints have been corrected: Line 5, word 1 (formerly "It's"), and Line 7, word 2 (formerly "opon").
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Michael Ippolito (b. 1985), "How soft a Caterpillar steps —", 2014 [ solo voice ], from Peacock Presumes to Die!, no. 3, confirmed with a score [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Julian Philips (b. 1969), "The caterpillar", 1997/2002, published 2007 [ high voice and piano ], from An Amherst Bestiary, no. 16, Peters Edition [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , "Die Raupe", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Malcolm Wren
[Guest Editor] , Sharon Krebs
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2014-08-28
Line count: 8
Word count: 45
Wie weich ist der Tritt einer Raupe -
Ich finde eine auf meiner Hand
Sie kommt aus solch einer samtweichen Welt,
Über solchen Plüsch verfügend
Ihre lautlose Wanderungen fesseln so knapp
Mein langsames - erdgebundenes Auge
Mit ihrem eigenen Lauf beschäftigt,
Was habe ich ihr zu bieten -