“How from between my hands you slip away”
Quevedo’s considerations in “How from between my hands you slip away” validate that he is anticipating his passing. Quevedo is pragmatic for he avows, “Already my heart awaits the final day,/attending thus the flight of unseen wings.” Quevedo likens his survival to the ‘flight of unseen wings’ to prove that he does not have full command of his lifespan. Ultimately, mortality will discontinue the wings from hovering. Death is emblazoned in the destiny of all humanity; therefore, prevailing to see tomorrow is not a warranty for all. Further, death heightens the brittleness of a human's worldly presence.
“All these are swept away in one brief year”
Death elicits Quevedo’s acrimony: “Bitter is death: an unavoidable, and sure inheritance.” Death is a disagreeable bequest of mortality that cannot be eluded by any mortal. Therefore, death is the charge that all humans must recompense for being corporeal. Quevedo is engrossed with death for he writes, “Each brief moment becomes a lengthy stride/ which adds to each day’s demands another burden.” For Quevedo, survival is disheveled by impermanence; thus, he connects all the stages of his lifecycle with the subsequent actuality of death.
