If you were coming in the fall (Emily Dickinson)

IF you were coming in the fall, 

I ’d brush the summer by 

With half a smile and half a spurn, 

As housewives do a fly. 

If I could see you in a year, 5

I ’d wind the months in balls, 

And put them each in separate drawers, 

Until their time befalls. 

If only centuries delayed, 

I ’d count them on my hand, 10

Subtracting till my fingers dropped 

Into Van Diemen’s land. 

If certain, when this life was out, 

That yours and mine should be, 

I ’d toss it yonder like a rind, 15

And taste eternity. 

But now, all ignorant of the length 

Of time’s uncertain wing, 

It goads me, like the goblin bee, 

That will not state its sting. 20