Question 17 - Language Arts: Reading Practice Test for the HiSET Test

[“If You Were Coming in the Fall”]

\[\begin{array}{ll} {\quad} & \;\;\text{If you were coming in the fall,} \\ {\quad} & \;\;\text{I'd brush the summer by} \\ {\quad} & \;\;\text{With half a smile and half a spurn,} \\ {\quad} & \;\;\text{As housewives do a fly.} \\ \end{array}\] \[\begin{array}{ll} {\quad\quad5} \; & \;\;\text{If I could see you in a year,} \\ {\quad\quad} \quad & \;\;\text{I'd wind the months in balls,} \\ {\quad\quad} \quad & \;\;\text{And put them each in separate drawers,} \\ {\quad\quad} \quad & \;\;\text{Until their time befalls.} \\ \end{array}\] \[\begin{array}{ll} {\quad} & \;\;\;\text{If only centuries delayed,} \\ {10} & \;\;\;\text{I'd count them on my hand,} \\ {\quad} & \;\;\;\text{Subtracting till my fingers dropped} \\ {\quad} & \;\;\;\text{Into Van Diemen's land.} \\ \end{array}\] \[\begin{array}{ll} {\quad} & \text{If certain, when this life was out,} \\ {\quad} & \text{That yours and mine should be,} \\ {15} & \text{I'd toss it yonder like a rind,} \\ {\quad} & \text{And taste eternity.} \\ \end{array}\] \[\begin{array}{ll} {\;} & \;\;\text{But now, all ignorant of the length} \\ {\;} & \;\;\text{Of time's uncertain wing,} \\ {\;} & \;\;\text{It goads me, like the goblin bee,} \\ {20} & \;\;\text{That will not state its sting.} \\ \end{array}\]