Letter 378 (autumn 1872) Susan Gilbert di*kinson lyrics

My Sue,

Loo and Fanny will come tonight, but need that make a difference?
Space is as the Presence -

    A narrow Fellow in the Grass
    Occasionally rides -
    You may have met him? Did you not
    His notice instant 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 -
    But 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.

                                                                                                         Emily -