by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
If you were coming in the Fall
Language: English
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, Until their time befalls. If only centuries delayed, I'd count them on my hand, 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, 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.
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Text Authorship:
- by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published 1890 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Jake Heggie (b. 1961), "If you were coming in the fall", 1987, first performed 1987 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Faith Disquiet, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ezra Laderman (1924 - 2015), "If you were coming in the Fall", published 1970 [ 2 narrators, piano, and orchestra ], from Magic Prison [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gitta Steiner (1932 - 1990), "If you were coming in the Fall" [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 116