艾米莉.狄金森(Emily Dickinson)(1830～1886) 为美国隐士女诗人，生前写过一千七百多首令人耳目一新的短诗，却不为人知，死后名声大噪。她诗风独特，以文字细腻、观察敏锐、意象突出著称。 题材方面多半是自然、死亡、和永生。
If You Were Coming In The Fall
BY EMILY DICKINSON
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.
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，
象管家妇把苍蝇赶跑。
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。
I never saw a moor
I never saw a Moor--
I never saw the Sea--
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.
I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven--
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given--
我从未看过荒原--
我从未看过海洋--
可我知道石楠的容貌
和狂涛巨浪。
我从未与上帝交谈
也不曾拜访过天堂--
可我好像已通过检查
一定会到那个地方 。
