Exeat Poem by Stevie Smith

great read...thanks for sharing this poem...death can sometimes be very elusive, especially when it is needed the most...

Death comes only when one is not in that mood!

Thanks for sharing the story of the cruel Roman Monarch and rest of the narrative showing hide & seek between life and death.

I loved this poem until the last lines when she suggests that suicide is O.K. Suicide is a selfish thing and is never the answer. So many people around you suffer from your suicide. I have seen it more than once.

I think of how we do not wish to die until we have finished what we most want to do. This poem reminds me of the peace that must come after one has done something majestic with their life, and now can die in calm serenity. I do not like the way the poem looks; it is asymmetrically challenged and distracting, but the words are good.

Eerily familiar and so realistic of what many suicidal people feel, I think. Very telling of the depression many of us artists suffer. This is my original introduction to Miss Smith and I am intrigued and somewhat taken by her mind's charm.... That she nicknamed her childhood guardian the lioness is very telling of her and I think that I would much have enjoyed her company...

Secret of life and death The secret to life and death Is beyond mortal men of Earth For life on it's own is hell Neither the death a thing to tell Some wish to live and fail While some yearn to die but death snail In dark life is made unconsciously An ill will hand raise to end it willingly For men tend to think it simply An Angel shield it to grow wings For it in future to fly and sings Him above and beyond knows The cause and reasons we bows The date and season he choose To arrive and Depart the venue By his hand he authored the menu Why give him a unwanted hand And between soul and destiny to stand To terminate the life you can define

Makes one see death as a means of relief from lifes worries and uncertainties . Thanks for the post.