This poem-letter, possibly composed and sent to Mabel Loomis Todd around 1883
(RWF), carries the final lines of "We like March." It may be a compressed version
of that poem, or it may be that this leaf has been detached from the first leaf of
the manuscript carrying the first part of the poem. Todd's note in the header of
the manuscript—"(Thinking you may like to see a bit of E. D.'s original
writing)"—indicates that she offered the leaf as a souvenir, possibly to
Denis Wortman; if so, she may have disseminated other leaves from the manuscript.
For a variant 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 an intermediate-copy draft of the 1878 version of the poem, see A 508; 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 poem also composed around this time and found among
Dickinson's papers after her death, see Princeton.
Two editorial notations appear on A 786: lower right, MTB: III,
108; lower left: 4/98. The first notation
indicates that the text—or a version of the text—was published
in Poems, 3d ser., 108; the authorship and significance of the
second notation are not known.