MANUSCRIPT: The copy reproduced above (H 351), signed "Emily - ," was written late in 1873 or early in 1874, and sent to Sue. A variant of the four final lines is incorporated in a letter to T. W. Higginson (BPL Higg 84) written during January 1874:

Presuming on that lone result
His infinite Disdain
But vanquished him with my Defeat
'Twas Victory was slain.

Meeting a Bird this Morning, I begun to flee - He saw it and sung.

PUBLICATION: The copy to Sue furnished the text in SH (1914), 148. The lines to Higginson are in Letters (ed. 1894), 326; (ed. 1931), 307; also LL (1924), 305.

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