Poetry Journal #12 - Let Me Die a Youngman's Death

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

-Roger McGough


It's clear that in this poem, the speaker is speaking of himself and the intended audience is the world at large or a deity who has control over fate. It does not seem to be a prayer or plea to god, since the sincerity of he poem is somewhat in question due to the humor involved.

The Speaker desires to die a "youngman's death" which, since death does not often strike the young, he interprets to mean one that is dramatic, not easy or slow, most specifically not a "what a nice way to go" death.

The Speaker clearly has somewhat of a disdain for the slow, natural and peaceful death that the majority of the world claims to seek. He prefers the options of being mowed down by a red sports car, being shot by gangsters, or being murdered by his wife for committing adultery.

Overall, I think that his message is that there is as much life in the method by which you die as life you live beforehand. He wants his death to be an event worth of the life lived beforehand, not a quiet passage into the next world.

This poem reminds me of the quote:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well preserved body,
But rather to skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand,
wine in the other,
body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming
"WOO HOO what a ride!"