A Route of Evanescence : Emily Dickinson's Nature Mysticism : Humming Bird

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris

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Circuit I - (01) A Route of Evanescence (Humming Bird) (J-1463) (F-1489)

⁽¹⁾ A Route of Evanescence
With a revolving Wheel —
⁽²⁾ A Resonance of Emerald —
A Rush of Cochineal,
⁽³⁾ And every Blossom on the Bush
Adjusts its tumbled Head.
⁽⁴⁾ The Mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy Morning's Ride.

^{(Below: an original manuscript version for above, without editing

or imposed lineation, Franklin #D. See index for more of
Dickinson's step, ramble and road poems.)} ⁽¹⁾ A Route of
Evanescence
With a revolving
Wheel –
⁽²⁾ A Resonance
of Emerald –
A Rush of
Cochineal –
⁽³⁾ And every
Blossom on the
Bush
Adjusts it's
tumbled Head –
⁽⁴⁾ The Mail from
Tunis, probably,
An easy
Morning's Ride –

~ Emily Dickinson

Commentary adapted from Emily Dickinson's Poems & Letters

⁽¹⁾ "All we secure of beauty is it's evanescences." ~ (L #781)

⁽¹⁾ "What tenements of clover are fitting for the bee . . . what
residences nimble arise and evanesce."
~ (J-1338) (F-1358)

⁽¹⁾ "Within my garden, rides a bird upon a single wheel —
whose spokes a dizzy music make as 'twere
a travelling mill." ~ (J-0500) (F-0370)

^(1-4) "The orioles fly by me as I write." ~ (L #825)

⁽²⁾ "Cochineal — I chose — for deeming
It resemble Thee —
And the little Border — Dusker —
For resembling Me."
~ (J-0748) (F-0786)

⁽³⁾ "Blossoms are so peculiarly consecrated . . ." ~ (L #527)

^(3-4) "And when the humming birds come down – geranium
and I shut our eyes – and go far away." ~ (L #235)

^(3-4) "When I am rather low-spirited nothing seems to cheer me
so much as a letter from a friend." ~ (L #8)

^(3-4) "A letter is a joy of earth – it is denied the gods."
~ (L #963) (J-1639) (F-1672)

⁽⁴⁾ "Count not that far that can be had, though sunset lie between –
nor that adjacent, that beside, is further than the sun."
~ (J-1074) (F-1124)

⁽⁴⁾ ref. compare Shakespeare: the sun delivering mail from Tunis:
The Tempest Act II
"She that is Queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the sun were post."
(Dickinson & Shakespeare)

⁽⁴⁾ "There will be romance in [my] letter's ride to you –
think of the hills and the dales, and the rivers it will pass over, and
the drivers and conductors who will hurry it on to you; and won't
that make a poem such as can ne'er be written?" ~ (L #77)

⁽⁴⁾ "I write from the Land of Violets,
and from the Land of Spring." ~ (L #85)

⁽⁴⁾ "My letter as a bee, goes laden." ~ (L #133)

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