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Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Requiescat

by Oscar Wilde · 1881

1Tread lightly, she is near

2Under the snow,

3Speak gently, she can hear

4The daisies grow.

5All her bright golden hair

6Tarnished with rust,

7She that was young and fair

8Fallen to dust.

9Lily-like, white as snow,

10She hardly knew

11She was a woman, so

12Sweetly she grew.

13Coffin-board, heavy stone,

14Lie on her breast,

15I vex my heart alone,

16She is at rest.

17Peace, Peace, she cannot hear

18Lyre or sonnet,

19All my life's buried here,

20Heap earth upon it.

21Avignon.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
Requiescat
Poet
Oscar Wilde
Published
1881
Length
21 lines
Form
Lyric Poem, Elegy
Themes
Death & Loss, Grief, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
21 lines · 6 stanzas of 1–4 lines
Line length
Lines run 4-6 syllables (median 5). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Oscar Wilde1854–1900
Source record
WikisourceRequiescat by oscar-wilde, Wikisource transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
1881
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 60164525bd950ba9
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policyReport a text or rights issue

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