狄金森(Emily Dickinson) (1830-1886)，20岁开始写诗，早期的诗大都已散失，留下诗稿 1,775首。她的诗在形式上富于独创性，大多使用17世纪英国宗教圣歌作者艾萨克·沃茨的传统格律形式，但又作了许多变化，例如在诗句中使用许多短破折号，既可代替标点，又使正常的抑扬格音步节奏产生突兀的起伏跳动。她作为现代诗的先驱者得到美国现代诗的热烈欢迎，对她的研究成了美国现代文学批评中的热门。
If You Were Coming in the Fall
如果你在秋天到来
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall,
如果你在秋天到来，
I’d brush the summer by
我将轻拂夏日而过
With half a smile, and half a spurn,
半带微笑，半带弃绝，
As Housewives do, a Fly.
如家庭主妇把苍蝇扑捉。
If I could see you in a year,
如果能在一年之中将你盼来，
I’d wind the months in balls—
我将把月份缠绕成一个个纱球—
And put them each in separate Drawers,
把它们分开，各自放进抽屉，
For fear the numbers fuse—
以免这些数字熔合，不再分开—
If only Centuries, delayed,
如果只是延至数个世纪，
I’d count them on my hand,
我愿搬弄手指度日数数，
Subtracting, till my fingers dropped
逐日递减，直到手指全部掉入
Into Van Dieman’s Land.
塔斯马尼亚岛屿的土地。
If certain, When this life was out—
如果确定无疑，当今生度完—
That your’s and mine, should be
它应属于你和我，
I’d toss it yonder, like a Rind,
我愿把它，像果壳，扔向遥远，
And take Eternity—
去到来生把你赢得—
But, now, uncertain of the length
而目前，日期遥遥，
Of this, that is between,
等待无期，天各一方，
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee—
像妖蜂，使我伤痛不已—
That will not state-it’s sting
无法诉说—如刺如燎。
词汇助攻：
spurn n./v. 鄙视
reject with contempt
fuse v. 融合
mix together
yonder adv. 在远处
distant but within sight
goad v. 刺激
stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick
sting n./v. 刺痛，蛰
a kind of pain,something as sudden and painful as being stung