Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
Requiescat
by Oscar Wilde · 1881
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone,
She is at rest.
Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life's buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
Avignon.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Requiescat” by Oscar Wilde — quilloak.com/poems/requiescat
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.
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.
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