Dylan Thomas wrote this poem in 1951, as his father was dying of old age. Dylan Thomas himself had an illness in his teens and was told he would only have a few years to live. He passed away in 1953: 2 years after writing this.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I first read this in high school. And right away I loved the line, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Optimism. Seize the day till your very last breath! That’s what I thought and how it hit me back then.

But now, especially with the knowledge that the poet himself was ill and having to experience his father’s passing at the same time… now I connect to this on a very different level. Why rage against the dying of the light? Why NOT go gently into that good night?

I think Dylan Thomas was afraid of death and wanted nothing more than to fight against it. This is a poem about a man coming to terms with his own mortality. Someone with complete self-acceptance I suppose would go gently (they would have made their peace). It’s only those who are still afraid that feel they must rage. But that IS the current state I am in.

I am only NOW realizing that I am not immortal. And I want to rage because I am not ready to go gently.