A Floor too cool for Corn –
But when a Boy and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon
Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled And was gone –
Several of Nature's People
I know and they know me
I feel for them a transport
Of Cordiality
But never met this Fellow
Attended or alone
Without a tighter Breathing
And Zero at the Bone.
“the impression left by the Snake was too deep, and all the Cordiality in the world can’t shut out “this Fellow” (and the death he can bring). The fear he causes is not mitigated by the presence of human companions; the speaker, whether “attended or alone” remains (in memory) terrified, the breath constricted, the cordial warmth annihilated to Zero.” 
 Vendler, Hellen. “1096.” Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 399. Google Books. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.  .
1096