--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I…" description: "\"“Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns. Ev..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png" --- # Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I cannot remember… ![“Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns. Even then I have nothing against life. I know well the grass blades you mention, the furniture you have placed under the sun. But suicides have a…” quote by Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png) > ““Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. I walk in my clothing, unmarked by that voyage. Then the almost unnameable lust returns. Even then I have nothing against life. I know well the grass blades you mention, the furniture you have placed under the sun. But suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build. Twice I have so simply declared myself, have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy, have taken on his craft, his magic. In this way, heavy and thoughtful, warmer than oil or water, I have rested, drooling at the mouth-hole. I did not think of my body at needle point. Even the cornea and the leftover urine were gone. Suicides have already betrayed the body. Still-born, they don't always die, but dazzled, they can't forget a drug so sweet that even children would look on and smile. To thrust all that life under your tongue!— that, all by itself, becomes a passion. Death's a sad Bone; bruised, you'd say, and yet she waits for me, year after year, to so delicately undo an old wound, to empty my breath from its bad prison. Balanced there, suicides sometimes meet, raging at the fruit, a pumped-up moon, leaving the bread they mistook for a kiss, leaving the page of the book carelessly open, something unsaid, the phone off the hook and the love, whatever it was, an infection.”” [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The poem explores the conflicted, almost compulsive fascination with death, describing it as a language and a craft that both tempts and torments the speaker, while also acknowledging a lingering attachment to life. **In simple terms:** A troubled mind is drawn to death as a strange, compelling ritual, yet still feels some love for living. Key Takeaway Recognize the pull of dark thoughts and seek help before they dominate. Themes death mental health addiction identity language Mood despair introspective haunting Type poetic confessional literary When to use this quote - personal crisis - therapy sessions - creative writing - support groups - medical treatment Key Concepts nihilism psychological conflict self‑destruction artistic expression Questions to Reflect On - What does the speaker’s “language of suicide” reveal about their inner world? - How can creative expression serve both as a warning and a coping tool? 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It is a symptom of severe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sally-brampton/wanting-to-die-or-suicidal-ideation-as-the-experts-would-have-it-goes/) [Sally Brampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sally-brampton/) > [“Hee-hee-hee. I'm fine, reeeeally. Wanting to die is starting to be a habit for me. Don't worry about it, okay? Next week there's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mizuki-nomura/hee-hee-hee-i-m-fine-reeeeally-wanting-to-die-is-starting-to-be-a/) [Mizuki Nomura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mizuki-nomura/) > [It's your fault she's crying in the corner. wanting to die. cant sleep at night, doesnt eat. its your fault.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley/it-s-your-fault-she-s-crying-in-the-corner-wanting-to-die-cant-sleep/) [Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley/) > [I'm an extremist, I have to deal with my own extreme personality, and I walk the fine line of wanting to die and wanting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/davey-havok/i-m-an-extremist-i-have-to-deal-with-my-own-extreme-personality-and-i/) [Davey Havok](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/davey-havok/) > [“I am willing to be vulnerable and embrace the natural flow of life rather than trying to direct it to my own course and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-rottenberg/i-am-willing-to-be-vulnerable-and-embrace-the-natural-flow-of-life/) [Jonathan Rottenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-rottenberg/) > [There's a big difference, I discovered, between wanting to die and not wanting to live,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-manson/there-s-a-big-difference-i-discovered-between-wanting-to-die-and-not-2/) [Marilyn Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-manson/) > [“You think I ever stopped wanting to die after the motel?" I ask. "You think a feeling like that just goes away?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-summers/you-think-i-ever-stopped-wanting-to-die-after-the-motel-i-ask-you/) [Courtney Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-summers/) > [It's sad, really. The feeling of wanting to die every minute of every day. Feeling worthless and like nobody would care if you just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patience/it-s-sad-really-the-feeling-of-wanting-to-die-every-minute-of-every/) [Patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patience/) > [Sometimes, I can be crying my eyes out, wanting to die, and then I'll walk by a mirror and see myself and just bust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tierra-whack/sometimes-i-can-be-crying-my-eyes-out-wanting-to-die-and-then-i-ll/) [Tierra Whack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tierra-whack/) ## More by Anne Sexton > [Blind with love, my daughter has cried nightly for horses, those long-necked marchers and churners that she has mastered, any and all, reigning them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/blind-with-love-my-daughter-has-cried-nightly-for-horses-those-long/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I am crazy as hell, but I know it. 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Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-want-to-kiss-god-on-his-nose-and-watch-him-sneeze-and-so-do-you-not/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman's yet, told the stars my questions and thought God could really see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-in-my-brand-new-body-which-was-not-a-woman-s-yet-told-the-stars-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Father, you died once, salted down at fifty-nine, packed down like a big snow angel, wasn't that enough?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/father-you-died-once-salted-down-at-fifty-nine-packed-down-like-a-big/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/when-i-m-writing-i-know-i-m-doing-the-thing-i-was-born-to-do/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case never bothered by diapers or dust, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/cinderella-and-the-prince-lived-they-say-happily-ever-after-like-two/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Quite collected at cocktail parties, meanwhile in my head I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/quite-collected-at-cocktail-parties-meanwhile-in-my-head-i-m/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I cannot walk an inch / without trying to walk to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-cannot-walk-an-inch-without-trying-to-walk-to-god/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Now that I have written many words, and let out so many loves, for so many, and been altogether what I always was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/now-that-i-have-written-many-words-and-let-out-so-many-loves-for-so/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) [Explore all 428 Anne Sexton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## More Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. 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I know well the grass blades you mention, the furniture you have placed under the sun. But suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build. Twice I have so simply declared myself, have possessed the enemy, eaten the enemy, have taken on his craft, his magic. In this way, heavy and thoughtful, warmer than oil or water, I have rested, drooling at the mouth-hole. I did not think of my body at needle point. Even the cornea and the leftover urine were gone. Suicides have already betrayed the body. Still-born, they don't always die, but dazzled, they can't forget a drug so sweet that even children would look on and smile. To thrust all that life under your tongue!— that, all by itself, becomes a passion. Death's a sad Bone; bruised, you'd say, and yet she waits for me, year after year, to so delicately undo an old wound, to empty my breath from its bad prison. Balanced there, suicides sometimes meet, raging at the fruit, a pumped-up moon, leaving the bread they mistook for a kiss, leaving the page of the book carelessly open, something unsaid, the phone off the hook and the love, whatever it was, an infection.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anne Sexton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i-cannot-remember-i-walk-in-my/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Death" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i-cannot-remember-i-walk-in-my/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/anne-sexton-645_death_wanting-to-die-since-you-ask-most-days-i_3020352.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Wanting to Die Since you ask, most days I cannot remember. 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