If You Were Coming in the Fallby Emily Dickinson

艾米莉·狄金森(Emily Dickinson)在一八八六年與世長辭;而她深鎖在盒子里的大量創作詩篇，則是她留給世人的最大厚禮。縱然在她有生之年，她的作品未能獲得當時的青睞，然而周遭眾人對她的不解與誤會，卻絲毫無法低損她豐富的創作天分。根據現存作品，艾米莉驚人的創作力為自己，也為世人留下一千八百首詩，包括了定本的一千七百七十五首與新近發現的二十五首。

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,

I’d wind the months in balls—

And put them each in separate Drawers,

For fear the numbers fuse—

If only Centuries, delayed,

I’d count them on my hand,

Subtracting, till my fingers dropped

Into Van Dieman’s Land.

If certain, When this life was out—

That your’s and mine, should be

I’d toss it yonder, like a Rind,

And take Eternity—

But, now, uncertain of the length

Of this, that is between,

It goads me, like the Goblin Bee—

That will not state-it’s sting.

如果你在秋天到來，

我將輕拂夏日而過

半帶微笑，半帶棄絕，

如家庭主婦把蒼蠅撲捉。

如果能在一年之中將你盼來，

我將把月份纏繞成一個個紗球—

把它們分開，各自放進抽屜，

以免這些數字熔合，不在分開—

如果只是延至數個世紀，

我愿搬弄手指度日數數，

逐日遞減，直到手指全部掉入

塔斯馬尼亞島嶼的土地。

如果確定無疑，當今生度完—

它應屬于你和我，

我愿把它，像果殼，扔向遙遠，

去到來生把你贏得—

而目前，日期遙遙，

等待無期，天各一方，

像妖蜂，使我傷痛不已—

無法訴說—如刺如燎。