我的理解， 这首诗是描述“我”在死去那一天和死亡的 an unprepared date. 我同意你对第一句的理解。死亡降临“我”没有准备，没有能够等他来。但他坐着马车来接“我”了。这里emily 把死亡拟人化了。他带着“我”从早上一直到日落，经过校园和田野。Emily把grains 也拟人化了，它们一路对马车经过行注目礼。
日落了，“or rather - he passed us -" 这里的he 是指 the Sun. 温度降低了，“我”早上出门没有准备，只穿了件薄纱披风。这也说明你对第一句的理解是对的：）寒冷和死亡关联，这一节是一个转折，下一节就提到“house”了。这是即将埋“我”的坟墓。Emily "show don't tell"在这一节还有前面一节都体现得淋漓尽致。
最后一节是个big surprise. 以上描述的是几个世纪之前的一天，原来我已经死去几个世纪了，但就象昨天才发生的。那时就意识到马车的马头是指向永生的。Emily其实一直觉得death is a passage to eternity (afterlife). 这在她的另一首诗里也有体现。
Do you remember this one? I recited this one last year and posted it on Meitan. I remember you translated it into Chinese.
If you were coming in the fall
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,
For fear the numbers fuse---
If only Centuries, delayed,
I'd count them on my Hand,
Subtracting, til my fingers dropped
Into Van Dieman's Land,
If certain, when this life was out---
That yours and mine, should be
I'd toss it yonder, like a Rind,
And take Eternity---
But, now, uncertain of the length
Of this, that is between,
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee---
That will not state--- its sting.
以上是我对这首诗的理解，仅供参考：）
