Dying (I heard a fly buzz when I died)

Emily Dickinson 1830 (Amherst) – 1886 (Amherst)



I heard a fly buzz when I died;
   The stillness round my form
   Was like the stillness in the air
   Between the heaves of storm.
   The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
   And breaths were gathering sure
   For that last onset, when the king
   Be witnessed in his power.
   I willed my keepsakes, signed away
  What portion of me I
  Could make assignable, -- and then
  There interposed a fly,

  With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
  Between the light and me;
  And then the windows failed, and then
  I could not see to see.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

28 sec read
192

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXABXXXXBCB XDCD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 528
Words 95
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 12, 4

Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. more…

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