第一組詩自然

　 Poem 328

J328

A bird come down the walk:
He did not know l saw;
He bit an angle--worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew	5
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass
He danced with rapid eyes
That hurried all around--	10
That 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	15
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies off banks of noon,
Leap, splash less, as they swim.	20

　
Annotation

Line	Word or phrase	Annotation
1	walk:	小徑
3	bit an angle--worm in halves	將蚯蚓咬成兩半
4	fellow	伙」，顆示她與大自然之蟲獸草木相近熟稔。
	raw	生的，指鳥生吞蚯蚓。
5	dew	原應作a drop of dew或 the dew，因dew係一不可數名詞。
6	a convenient grass	原應作a blade of convenient grass或convenient grass，與上註情形相同。Convenient近便，就近。
7	hopped sidewise	向一邊跳。
9-10	rapid eyes/ That hurried	指小鳥有所警惕，因此眼睛向四處張望。
11	frightened beads,	傖慌的珠子。Dickinson慣以日常家居、人人熟悉的意象描寫大自然，此處將鳥的眼睛視為珠子即為一例。
12	velvet head	天鵝絨的頭，形容小鳥滿頭茸毛。
13	Like one in danger	如同身處險境的人(或動物)。此片語修飾第十二行的動詞。Dickinson的詩固然維持工整的段 (stanza)的單元，但兩段之間意義卻經常打成一片，無法加以嚴格分剖。本詩之第四段與第五段即為一例。
	cautious	小心翼翼。修飾下一行之"I"
14	crumb	麵包屑，餅屑。
15	unrolled his feathers	攤他的羽翼(如打開卷軸或包袱)。Dickinson使用日常意象另一例，似有親切可喜的效果。
16	rowed him	此地him原應作himself，指鳥本身。
	softer	more softly
16-17	And rowed...ocean	=And rowed himself home more softly than oars divide the ocean
17	divide	分畫，指船漿划過留下一道波浪。宛若將海洋切分為二。當然比處之船漿與鳥翅相形之下，後者較為輕盈
18	Too silver for a seam	指海洋，天空一派銀白，而烏過處體態輕盈，因此不留任何痕跡，也就是「天衣無縫」的意思。
19	Or butterflies off banks of noon	=or than butterflies‥．noon
	banks of noon	指鳥飛之輕逸遠勝船槳或蝴蝶。
20	splash less	正午的堤岸。天空被喻為海洋而蝴蝶泳其中。
		splash less，指姿態優美，不濺起任何浪花。