（原诗属四三步抑扬格，各节偶行分别入韵；拙译奇行

  10字，偶行8字；略丰韵谐之。—欢迎切磋针砭！）                        

If you were coming in the fall,                       

你若是曾打算秋季过来，                     10

  I'd brush the summer by                            

  我便会把夏季撸掉—                            8A

    With half a smile and half a spurn,               

    半带着轻蔑，半带着微笑，                     10A

  As housewives do a fly.                             

  像主妇把苍蝇驱跑。                            8A

If I could see you in a year,                        

假如要一年后与你相见，                           10

  I'd wind the months in balls,                       

  我把每月揉成团状，                            8B

    And put them each in separate drawers,            

    再放进一个个抽屉之中，                       10

  Until their time befalls.                           

  直到时光渐次临降。                            8B

If only centuries delayed,                            

你迟来几世纪那有多好，                     10

  I'd count them on my hand,                          

  我便会将日子细数，                            8C

    Subtracting 'till my fingers dropped              

    一天天减少，直到手指头—                      10

  Into Van Dieman's land*.                            

  掉入那无人的荒芜。                            8C

If certain when this life was out,                    

假如肯定要等此生结束，                           10

  That yours and mine should be,                      

  你与我才得以相逢，                            8D

    I'd toss it yonder like a rind,                   

    我便把生命当瓜皮抛弃，                 10

  And taste eternity.                                 

  继而去品尝那永恒。                            8D

But now all ignorant of length                       

但是不知道等候的期限，                     10

  Of time's uncertain wing,                           

  时光之翼总不确定，                            8E

    It goads me like the goblin bee,                  

    这折磨就像是一只毒蜂，                 10E

  That will now state its sting!                      

  欲叮咬却迟迟不行！                            8E

        —by Emily DICKINSON（1830—1886）    

译注：*（Van Dieman's land）—即南太平洋澳大利亚大陆南面的塔斯马尼亚岛（Tasmaania island）。

【附1】：J.z无韵译本—

       美国女诗人艾米莉·狄金森（Emily Dickinson），终身未嫁。听说，她“23岁那年，在费城邂逅了自己‘命运的化身’，牧师魏治华斯，并爱上了他.但魏同学那时侯已经结婚了，狄金森不愿意做破坏别人家庭的第三者，和魏同学见了几次面之后，便黯然的回到自己的家乡，估计自此产生归隐的念头。从此把人世当做煎熬，把坟墓看成是自己的归宿，然而她却没有自杀，而且坚强的活下来，写了很多的小诗来表达自己的感情，她期待着，在另一个世界和魏同学作永恒的结合。”

【附3】：茶叶小姐不喝茶译本—

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，混淆了日期。 

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。 　　

       美国女诗人爱米莉·狄金森（1830—1886）23岁那年，在费城邂逅自己“命运的化身"，魏治华斯牧师。魏治华斯是有妇之夫。狄金森同他几度晤面，便黯然回乡，足不出户，连好友也不接待，得到"阿默斯特修女"的称号。她终身未婚。狄金森逝世后，她的妹妹发现了她所写将近1800首诗，将其陆续发表。她死后，在美国开始与惠特曼齐名，因为二人突破了维多利亚时代以来柔和细腻的诗风，抛弃"大理石"，改用"花岗岩"。惠特曼是摆脱格律的豪放，狄金森却是放宽格律的粗犷。这首小诗，何等深刻地表明，真爱的幸福，比人世万物都更珍贵。　　

       为什么诗人不说"假如春天你来，我愿把冬天丢开"？因为，这会面的希望太渺茫了。即使繁荣的生命趋于凋残、近于破败，那最后的片刻能够会面也好。那是她的永恒，也是她的一切。 

Spurn ：及物动词 v.t. 1. 一脚踢开[(+away)] 2. 轻蔑地拒绝;摒弃,唾弃She spurned all offers of help. 她断然拒绝一切帮助。 不及物动词 v.i. 1. 摒弃;藐视[(+at)] 名词 n. [C]1. 摒弃;藐视 2. 【古】踢 Yonder ['jnd] a. 1. 【书】那边的,远处的There is snow on the yonder side of the mountains. 山那边有雪。 ad. 1. 【书】在那边,在远处Look yonder!  

【附4】：e_m_m_a_译本—   

  《如果你要在秋天来》

       

如果你要在秋天来

 我便把夏天拂去

   半带微笑半带【决绝】

 像主妇把苍蝇驱。

 

若一年后才能见你

 便把每月揉成团

   再扔进一个个抽屉

 直到它们全过完。

 

若你【只】迟来几世纪

 我便把日子细数

   一天天减直到指头

 掉入无人的荒芜。

 

如果要等此生结束

 你才能与我相逢

   把生命当瓜皮抛弃

 我便去品尝永恒。

 

但不知等候的期限

 时间的脚步不定

   这折磨就像只【毒】蜂

 要叮【却迟迟不行】！    

 

*Van Diemen's land: the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Able Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania. Landing at Blackman's Bay and later haveing the Dutch flag flown at North Bay, Tasman named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt in Honour of Anthony van Diemen, the governor-General of the Dutch East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642. Between 1772 and 1798 only the South East of the island was visited. Tasmania was not known to be an island until Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated it in the Norfolk in 1798—1799.

                                             from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Diemen's_Land

 

  This is a poem about love, time and separation. It is addressed to and is about someone who is away. The usual assumption is that the speaker is a woman, because of the domestic metaphors (the housewife and the fly, the balls of yarn), because the writer was a woman, and, I think, because it is traditionally women who wait.

  Four of the stanzas begin with "if," a word that indicates uncertainty. This poem plays off certainty and uncertainty against each other. She is certain of her love for him; what she doesn't know is when they will be together and for how long. The time of absence gets longer in each stanza, progressing from fall in stanza one to a year to centuries to eternity in stanza four.

  But the length of absence is unimportant, provided his return and their reunion are certain. She dismisses the importance of how long he may be absent by trivializing it; she brushes off the absence of a summer as a housewife would shoo a fly away.              

  "Spurn" connotes contempt or scorn. A year is reduced to months, a smaller unit, and those are compared to balls of yarn to be stored separately. Storing them separately is like counting off individual units, making them more manageable and giving her a sense of control. "Befalls" continues the image of balls. She minimizes a century-long wait by modifying "century" with "only" and calling his absence "delayed." "Delayed" implies that eventually he will return. She counts time on her fingers, rather than on balls. The reference to Van Diemen's land indicates someplace far away. Van Diemen's land is the old name for Tasmania, an island off Australia. Why her fingers would drop is puzzling. One suggestion is that she has in mind a riddle: one person would curl her fingers under and then ask where they had gone; the answer was Van Diemen's Land or "down under."

  The fourth stanza introduces a different time,   eternity or timelessness. She would willingly die if they would be together forever. She compares her mortal life to a "rind." As the rind is the outer skin which protects the food, so her body (the "rind") contains a spirit or essence which would continue after her death. She continues the food metaphor with "taste." There is a tension and irony in the juxtaposition (placing next to each other) of "If" and "certain." Why are these two words incongruous?

  The final stanza abruptly introduces a new train of thought, which is indicated by the first word "but." The previous stanzas were hypothetical—if; that is, they discussed imagined possibilities in the future. In this stanza she is in real time, "now." She deals with her reality, which is a frightening one. She calls time "uncertain"; she does not know (is "ignorant") what time or timelessness is or will bring. Her ignorance distresses or "goads" her. She uses the metaphor of a wing for the length of time to pass. The threatening potential of time continues the wing metaphor in her comparison of time to a "goblin bee." The bee threatens with its painful sting. But time's threat is even greater because unstated; it leaves her in uncertainty, doubt, distress. The degree of threat which time presents is suggested by "goblin;" a goblin is at best mischievous, at worst evil.

  This is also a poem about anxiety, even dread.

 

Aanalysis from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/fall.html