Death & Dying

I heard a fly buzz when I died

by Emily Dickinson 1830–1886

Death & Dying

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.

MLA

Dickinson, Emily. “I heard a fly buzz when I died.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dickinson/432/.

Chicago

Dickinson, Emily. “I heard a fly buzz when I died.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dickinson/432/.

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