Summary

The poem opens with an attention-grabbing line in which we learn the speaker is dead. She recalls hearing the buzzing of a fly just before her death. She notes the sense of motionlessness in the room. She describes the room as being still and compares this stillness to the calmness of the air in between bouts of stormy weather. The speaker mentions the eyes of those around her, which were dry from having cried so much. She remembers the tension and sense of anticipation in the room as her presumed loved ones awaited her death.

The mourners held their collective breath in suspense as they waited for “the King” to appear to them (7). The speaker recollects creating and signing a will in which she divided her material belongings amongst her surviving loved ones. As she was signing away her possessions, a fly entered the...