Waiting for Death
My death must come; but when, I do not know:Life's short, and little life remains for me:Fain would my flesh abide; my soul would fleeHeavenward, for still she calls on me to go.
Blind is the world; and evil here belowO'erwhelms and triumphs over honesty:The light is quenched; quenched too is bravery:Lies reign, and truth hath ceased her face to show.
When will that day dawn, Lord, for which he waitsWho trusts in Thee? Lo, this prolonged delayDestroys all hope and robs the soul of life.
Why streams the light from those celestial gates,If death prevent the day of grace, and stayOur souls for ever in the toils of strife?
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Waiting for Death is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, the John Addington Symonds translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Waiting for Death, in Sonnets (1878), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10314, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/michelangelo-sonnets/waiting-for-death.html, id L15211.
Form and metre
Waiting for Death is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is CDE, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBA knowA · meB · fleeB · goA
- 2 A--A belowA · honesty · bravery · showA
- 3 CDE waitsC · delayD · lifeE
- 4 CDE gatesC · stayD · strifeE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My death must come; but when, I do not know: | 10 | ·········· |
| Life's short, and little life remains for me: | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Fain would my flesh abide; my soul would flee | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Heavenward, for still she calls on me to go. | 11 | /˘˘········ |
| Blind is the world; and evil here below | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O'erwhelms and triumphs over honesty: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| The light is quenched; quenched too is bravery: | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Lies reign, and truth hath ceased her face to show. | 10 | ·········· |
| When will that day dawn, Lord, for which he waits | 10 | ·········· |
| Who trusts in Thee? Lo, this prolonged delay | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Destroys all hope and robs the soul of life. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Why streams the light from those celestial gates, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| If death prevent the day of grace, and stay | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Our souls for ever in the toils of strife? | 10 | /··/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.