Come, o Death, so Silent Flying
The speaker asks Death to arrive silently and without warning, lest the delight of dying restore life. While Death brings pain to those who hate it, the speaker regards dying as a gain and life as an unwelcome task.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Lyric Poetry · 203 words
First lines
(Ven, Muerte tan Escondida)
By el Commendador Escriva
Come, O Death, so silent flying / That unheard thy coming be, / Lest the sweet delight of dying / Bring life back again to me. / For thy sure approach perceiving, / In my constancy and pain / I new life should win again, / Thinking that I am not living. / So to me, unconscious lying, / All unknown thy coming be, / Lest the sweet delight of dying / Bring life back again to me. / Unto him who finds thee hateful, / Death, thou art inhuman pain; / But to me, who dying gain, / Life is but a task ungrateful. / Come, then, with my wish complying, / All unheard thy coming be, / Lest the sweet delight of dying / Bring life back again to me.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A first-person speaker addresses Death in rhymed verse, repeating a plea for its silent arrival.
Tags
death wish · mortality · personification · paradox · lyric poetry
What this Textopian page supports
Come, o Death, so Silent Flying is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry
- Length: 203 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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