Emily Dickinson Lexicon

accidental, adj. [see accident, n.] (webplay: colors, begins, proceeds).

1. Sunset; nightfall; [word play] sensational; emotionally powerful; psychologically intense; [fig.] bloody; shocking; striking. [NW 1844: “Accidental colors, are those which depend upon the affections of the eye, in distinction from those which belong to light itself.”]
2. Haphazard; random; arbitrary; casual; indiscriminate; [word play] destructive; injurious; fatal; causing damage.