“I heard a Fly buzz”

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I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portions of me be
Assignable – and then it was
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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The featured image is “The Sick Woman” (unknown date, by 1920), by Noè Bordignon, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts. The author of some 1,800 poems, many of which deal with themes of death and immortality, she spent much of her life in almost complete isolation.