Happy weekend! Tonight is an Emily Dickinson night, in my opinion, so I'm going to share my favorite Emily poem. This poem has always made me smile; in high school, I had it taped to my wall because I felt it was an echo of my soul and all the longing I had inside. Its lilting rhythm and sense of anticipation cannot hide the loneliness and uncertainty pinned behind each word. It always makes my heart beat a little faster.
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 Diemens 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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