Black Racer
Non-venomous, very helpful garden friend.
This one was between 18″ and 2′ in length, and loving the
warmth of our sun-baked bricks.
In honor of National Poetry Month, I’m sharing one of my favorites. Being a reptile lover at heart, this has always appealed to me. And since I spotted my first black racer of the year in my back yard yesterday, it seemed especially appropriate. Of course, I don’t feel the same way about snakes as Emily, saving my “zero at the bone” for hairy-legged spiders, but it’s still a lovely poem. Enjoy!
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickson
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,
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.
The Write Stuff 
NOTE: It took me three tries to get the spacing right on this one. For some reason, it ignored my proper line breaks in the poem. Sorry. I think I’ve got it now, though.
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I love Emily Dickinson. A keen observer
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I’ve always thought so, too, Olga! Lovely work. But my favorite is probably Amy Lowell, for her amazingly beautiful, descriptive imagery. 🙂
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I heard a local news story yesterday that made me think of you: an unsuspecting gentleman doing a house clearance had rather a surprise when he opened up the airing cupboard – to find a 12′ albino Thai python!
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Well, that would be a bit of a shock. As much as I love snakes, I don’t think I’d want to be face to face with a large python, unexpectedly. I’d probably jump back so fast, I’d break my neck. Though an albino python would be lovely, indeed. 🙂 (I’ll tell Lester Purvis, shall I?)
And just so I know if I ever make it to your part of the world, what exactly is an “airing cupboard?” 🙂
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I think Lester is too late, they already re-homed the snake.
Yes, I wondered if you had airing cupboards in the US. It’s a cupboard built around the house’s hot water tank, with slatted shelves for airing clothes after they come off the line, and before they go into drawers or wardrobe. An old fashioned thing, now so many people have tumble driers, but we are a bit old fashioned in the UK, so many houses still have them. You’d not need such a thing, living where you do with those temperatures!
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Nope, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that, even back before we had dryers. (You really never see a clothes line these days. Many developments and communities won’t allow them, saying they’re too unsightly, believe it or not. But even we when everyone hung their laundry outdoors, I’ve never seen that. (Not even in the north, where it would have been cool/damp enough to warrant it.) But now I’m set. When I travel across the pond, I shall see if my accommodations include an airing cupboard, so I can try it out. Without the python! 🙂
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She is, by far, my favorite poet of all times. Thanks for sharing, Marcia. 🙂
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She’s certainly up there in my top poets, too, Linda. And this is one I really love. Obviously. 🙂
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