FeaturedChartsVideosPromote Your Music
Cover art for Before you thought of spring by Emily Dickinson

Before you thought of spring

Emily Dickinson
Track 81 on Second Series 
1 viewer

Before you thought of spring Lyrics

Before you thought of spring
Except as a surmise
You see, God bless his suddenness
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues
A little weather-worn
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown

With specimens of song
As if for you to choose
Discretion in the interval
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf
And shouts for joy to nobody
But his seraphic self!

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Have the inside scoop on this song?
Sign up and drop some knowledge

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Second Series (1891)
Emily Dickinson
  1. 1.
    I’m Nobody! Who Are You?
  2. 2.
    I bring an unaccustomed wine
  3. 3.
    The nearest Dream recedes—unrealized
  4. 4.
    We play at paste
  5. 5.
    I found the phrase to every thought
  6. 6.
    Hope is the thing with feathers
  7. 7.
    The White Heat
  8. 8.
    Who never lost, are unprepared (73)
  9. 9.
    I can wade Grief (252)
  10. 10.
    I never hear the word ‘escape’
  11. 11.
    For each ecstatic instant
  12. 12.
    Through the strait pass of suffering (792)
  13. 13.
    I meant to have but modest needs (476)
  14. 14.
    The thought beneath so slight a film
  15. 15.
    The Soul unto itself (683)
  16. 16.
    Surgeons must be very careful
  17. 17.
    The Railway Train
  18. 18.
    The show is not the show
  19. 19.
    Delight becomes pictorial
  20. 20.
    A thought went up my mind to-day
  21. 21.
    Is Heaven A Physician?
  22. 22.
    Tho’ I get home how late—how late
  23. 23.
    A poor — torn heart — a tattered heart
  24. 24.
    I should have been too glad, I see (313)
  25. 25.
    It tossed—and tossed (723)
  26. 26.
    Victory comes late (690)
  27. 27.
    God gave a Loaf to every Bird
  28. 28.
    Experiment To Me
  29. 29.
    My Country’s Wardrobe
  30. 30.
    “Faith” is a fine invention
  31. 31.
    Except the Heaven had come so near
  32. 32.
    Portraits are to daily faces
  33. 33.
    I took my Power in my Hand (540)
  34. 34.
    A shady friend for torrid days
  35. 35.
    Each life converges to some centre
  36. 36.
    Before I got my eye put out
  37. 37.
    Talk with prudence to a Beggar
  38. 38.
    The Preacher
  39. 39.
    Good night! which put the candle out?
  40. 40.
    When I Hoped I Feared
  41. 41.
    Deed
  42. 42.
    Time’s Lesson
  43. 43.
    Remorse
  44. 44.
    The Body grows without (578)
  45. 45.
    Undue Significance a starving man attaches
  46. 46.
    Heart, not so heavy as mine
  47. 47.
    I many times thought Peace had come (739)
  48. 48.
    Unto my Books—so good to turn
  49. 49.
    This Merit hath the worst (979)
  50. 50.
    I had been hungry, all the Years
  51. 51.
    I gained it so (359)
  52. 52.
    To learn the Transport by the Pain
  53. 53.
    I Years Had Been From Home
  54. 54.
    Prayer is the little implement (437)
  55. 55.
    I know that He exists
  56. 56.
    Musicians wrestle everywhere
  57. 57.
    Just lost, when I was saved!
  58. 58.
    Of all the souls that stand create
  59. 59.
    I Have No Life But This
  60. 60.
    Your Riches—taught me—Poverty (299)
  61. 61.
    I gave myself to Him (580)
  62. 62.
    Going to him! Happy letter! Tell him
  63. 63.
    The Way I read a Letter’s—this (636)
  64. 64.
    Wild Nights – Wild Nights! (249)
  65. 65.
    The Night was wide, and furnished scant
  66. 66.
    Did the Harebell loose her girdle
  67. 67.
    A Charm invests a face (421)
  68. 68.
    The Rose did caper on her cheek
  69. 69.
    In lands I never saw—they say
  70. 70.
    The Moon Is Distant From The Sea
  71. 71.
    He put the Belt around my life (273)
  72. 72.
    I held a Jewel in my fingers
  73. 73.
    What if I say I shall not wait!
  74. 74.
    Nature—the Gentlest Mother is
  75. 75.
    Will there really be a ”Morning”? (101)
  76. 76.
    At Half-Past Three A Single Bird
  77. 77.
    The day came slow, till five o’ clock
  78. 78.
    The Sun—just touched the Morning
  79. 79.
    The Robin is the One
  80. 80.
    From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
  81. 81.
    Before you thought of spring
  82. 82.
    An altered look about the hills
  83. 83.
    Whose are the little beds, I asked
  84. 84.
    Pigmy seraphs—gone astray
  85. 85.
    To hear an Oriole sing
  86. 86.
    The Oriole
  87. 87.
    In Shadow
  88. 88.
    A Route of Evanescence
  89. 89.
    The Skies can’t keep their secret! (191)
  90. 90.
    Who Robbed The Woods?
  91. 91.
    Two Butterflies went out at Noon— (533)
  92. 92.
    By The Sea
  93. 93.
    Arcturus is his other name (70)
  94. 94.
    An awful Tempest mashed the air
  95. 95.
    An everywhere of silver
  96. 96.
    A Bird came down the Walk (328)
  97. 97.
    A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
  98. 98.
    The Mushroom
  99. 99.
    There came a Wind like a Bugle
  100. 100.
    The Spider
  101. 101.
    I know a place where summer strives
  102. 102.
    The One who could repeat the Summer day
  103. 103.
    The wind tapped like a tired man
  104. 104.
    Nature rarer uses yellow
  105. 105.
    The Leaves like Women interchange (987)
  106. 106.
    How Happy Is The Little Stone
  107. 107.
    Storm
  108. 108.
    The Rat
  109. 109.
    Frequently the wood are pink (6)
  110. 110.
    The wind begun to rock the grass
  111. 111.
    South Winds jostle them
  112. 112.
    Where Ships of Purple—gently toss
  113. 113.
    She sweeps with many-colored brooms
  114. 114.
    Like Mighty Foot Lights—burned the Red
  115. 115.
    Bring me the sunset in a cup
  116. 116.
    Blazing in Gold and quenching in Purple (228)
  117. 117.
    My Cricket
  118. 118.
    As Imperceptibly as Grief
  119. 119.
    It can’t be ”Summer”! (221)
  120. 120.
    The Gentian weaves her fringes
  121. 121.
    God made a little Gentian (442)
  122. 122.
    Besides the Autumn poets sing (131)
  123. 124.
    The Blue Jay
  124. 125.
    Let Down The Bars, O Death!
  125. 126.
    Going to Heaven!
  126. 127.
    At least—to pray—is left—is left (502)
  127. 128.
    Epitaph
  128. 129.
    Morns like these—we parted
  129. 130.
    A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
  130. 131.
    I read my sentence—steadily (412)
  131. 132.
    I Have Not Told My Garden Yet
  132. 133.
    They dropped like flakes
  133. 134.
    The only ghost I ever saw
  134. 135.
    Some, too fragile for winter winds
  135. 136.
    As by the dead we love to sit
  136. 137.
    Death sets a Thing significant
  137. 138.
    I went to heaven
  138. 139.
    Their Height in Heaven comforts not (696)
  139. 140.
    There is a Shame of Nobleness (551)
  140. 141.
    Triumph—may be of several kinds (455)
  141. 142.
    Pompless No Life Can Pass Away
  142. 143.
    I Noticed People Disappeared
  143. 144.
    I had no Cause to be awake (542)
  144. 145.
    If anybody’s friend be dead (509)
  145. 146.
    Our journey had advanced
  146. 147.
    Ample make this Bed
  147. 148.
    On such a night, or such a night
  148. 149.
    Essential Oils — are wrung
  149. 150.
    I lived on dread; to those who know
  150. 151.
    If I should die
  151. 152.
    Her final Summer was it
  152. 153.
    One need not be a chamber to be haunted
  153. 154.
    She died—this was the way she died
  154. 155.
    Wait till the Majesty of Death
  155. 156.
    Went Up A Year This Evening!
  156. 157.
    Requiem
  157. 158.
    What Inn is this
  158. 159.
    It was not Death, for I stood up (510)
  159. 160.
    I should not dare to leave my friend
  160. 161.
    Void
  161. 162.
    A throe upon the features (71)
  162. 163.
    Of Tribulation, these are They
  163. 164.
    I think just how my shape will rise
  164. 165.
    After a hundred years
  165. 166.
    Lay This Laurel On The One
Credits
Tags
Non-MusicLiterature
Comments
Sign Up And Drop Knowledge 🤓
Genius is the ultimate source of music knowledge, created by scholars like you who share facts and insight about the songs and artists they love.

Genius is the world’s biggest collection of song lyrics and musical knowledge

About GeniusContributor GuidelinesPressShopAdvertisePrivacy Policy
LicensingJobsDevelopersCopyright PolicyContact UsSign InDo Not Sell My Personal Information
© 2024 ML Genius Holdings, LLC
Terms of Use
Verified Artists
All Artists:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz#
Hot Songs:
Push Ups (Drop & Give Me Fifty)*EspressoRed LeatherKarmaLike ThatView All