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.