Skip to content

In her own words

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died

Emily Dickinson · 1830-1886

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –The Stillness in the RoomWas like the Stillness in the Air –Between the Heaves of Storm –
The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –And Breaths were gathering firmFor that last Onset – when the KingBe witnessed – in the Room –
I willed my Keepsakes – Signed awayWhat portion of me beAssignable – and then it wasThere interposed a Fly –
With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –Between the light – and me –And then the Windows failed – and thenI could not see to see –

See it in her own handAmherst College, Archives & Special Collections

The poems here are transcribed from Dickinson's own manuscripts, which are in the public domain. Her dashes, capital letters, and spellings are kept as she wrote them, so these read differently from the smoothed versions printed after her death. The manuscript images are reproduced courtesy of the libraries that hold them: the Boston Public Library (no known copyright restrictions), Amherst College Archives and Special Collections (free for non-commercial and educational use, with credit), and the Houghton Library at Harvard University, whose policy permits publishing images of its public-domain holdings. The modern dash-faithful scholarly editions remain under copyright and are not used here.