when i die — Summary

cloudsonthemoonContemplative

will there be a heaven or hell? will my sight fade, my hearing stop will I leave this Earth for good?

notice how all of these are questions, and none of them are answers but I suppose I will find out soon

everything I have ever known will be gone I will never see a sunset never run in the dark with friends

or will i? how does this all work? how could I be nothing? how could everything keep going?

all my life I have only seen the world through my own eyes it feels like my own personal place

so why do other people get to keep going? how is it fair that the clocks will still turn, the world will continue spinning?

but for now I will try to wait to live out the life I've been given I know sometimes it's hard not to throw it all away

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

In "when i die," the speaker wrestles with what happens after death and finds no answers, only more questions. They even point this out themselves: the first stanzas are all questions, and the speaker admits they'll "find out soon." That casual phrasing makes the fear feel close and real rather than abstract.

What hurts most is the idea of losing the world. The speaker names small, ordinary joys, like sunsets and running in the dark with friends, and then asks how everything can keep going without them. Seeing the world only through their own eyes makes it feel like a private place, so the thought of clocks still turning and the Earth still spinning feels unfair.

The mood is anxious and wondering, but it ends quietly. The speaker decides to wait and live the life they've been given. The last line admits that it's sometimes hard not to throw it all away, which hints at a darker struggle beneath the curiosity.

Read also

More by cloudsonthemoon

All poems
Anxiouscloudsonthemoon

nothing goes to plan around here

This isn't at all what I had planned I just meant for it to be a small thing I never wanted it to be this bad The winds have gone from a gentle breeze to a thrashing gale
Anxiouscloudsonthemoon

Im trapped

Im trapped in my head all my thoughts and desires stay inside too scared to leave in case of ridicule
Sadcloudsonthemoon

Glowsticks

crack my bones to see me glow break my heart and I'll give you my all take my breath and I'll thank you with my last gasp of air