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
