Lyric Poem · Nature

I suppose the time will come

by Emily Dickinson

Reading room

1I suppose the time will come

2Aid it in the coming

3When the Bird will crowd the Tree

4And the Bee be booming.

5I suppose the time will come

6Hinder it a little

7When the Corn in Silk will dress

8And in Chintz the Apple

9I believe the Day will be

10When the Jay will giggle

11At his new white House the Earth

12That, too, halt a little —

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“I suppose the time will come” by Emily Dickinson — quilloak.com/poems/i-suppose-the-time-will-come

Quick facts

Poem: I suppose the time will come
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Length: 12 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 12 lines · 3 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 6-7 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Refrain: “I suppose the time will come”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Emily Dickinson1830–1886
Source record: PoetryDBI suppose the time will come by emily-dickinson, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 5f30d18ad5c85b1d…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature

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