One of the many brief extrageneric texts found among her late papers after her death, Dickinson's final intentions toward this fragment remain unknown. It may have been destined for incorporation into a poem, a letter, or another composition; alternatively, it may be an experiment in aphoristic form; or, possibly, a compressed lyric poem unrecognized as such because of the crudeness of its material container. Dickinson may have added the variant "Boy" for "Child" either during the initial drive of composition, or later, when reading through the draft a second time. The variant appears supralinearly and in a smaller hand.