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, all ignorant of the length
Of time's uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) , no title, from Poems of Emily Dickinson, published 1890

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 (1961-) , "If you were coming in the fall", 1987, first performed 1987 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Faith Disquiet, no. 3.
by Ezra Laderman (1924-) , no title, published 1970 [two narrators, piano, and orchestra], from Magic Prison, no. ?
by Gitta Steiner (1932-) , "If you were coming in the Fall"

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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