If You Were Coming In The Fall 

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, ignorant of the length 

Of time’s uncertain wing, 

It goals me, like the goblin bee, 

That will not state its sting. 

 

如果你能在秋季来到， 

我会用掸子把夏季掸掉， 

一半轻蔑，一半含笑， 

像管家妇把苍蝇赶跑。 

如果一年后能够见你， 

我将把月份缠绕成团—— 

分别存放在不同的抽屉， 

免得，混淆了日期—— 

如果只耽搁几个世纪， 

我会用我的手算计—— 

把手指逐一屈起，直到 

全部倒伏在亡人国里。 

如果确知，聚会在生命—— 

你的和我的生命，结束时—— 

我愿意把生命抛弃—— 

如同抛弃一片果皮—— 

但是现在难以确知 

相隔还有多长时日—— 

这状况刺痛我有如妖蜂—— 

秘而不宣，是那毒刺。