This intermediate-copy poem-draft composed around 1878 (THJ, RWF) was found among Dickinson's papers after her death. For a fair-copy of the poem composed in 1871 (RWF) or 1872 (THJ) and sent to Susan Dickinson, see H 369. A fragment, A 509 / 510, inscribed with a variant of the poem's last lines, may have been Dickinson's point of departure for the 1878 version of the poem. For a fair-copy draft of the 1878 version of the poem, possibly intended for Elizabeth Holland, but found among Dickinson's papers after her death, see A 511; for another fair-copy draft of the 1878 version of the poem also found among Dickinson's papers after her death, see Princeton; for a fair-copy of the final stanza composed around 1883 (RWF) and signed "March," see A 786; this copy may have been sent to Mabel Loomis Todd.

Two (?) editorial notations are penciled on A 508: upper right: ?; upper left, partly erased: 97 +. The authorship and significance of the notations are not known.