A simile is a comparison of two things in which one is said to be "like" or "as" the other thing in some way. While this poem offers mostly metaphors, there is the following simile: the narrator describes "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight / Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay," and how they do not die without a fight.

In this simile, rather serious old people's eyes, which have likely become somewhat blind in their age, are compared to meteors and meteors' ability to blaze and shine. In other words, these individuals—sober and serious ones, as indicated by the word grave—may have spent their lives this way, failing to enjoy everything because they were busy taking everything so seriously.

However, now, at the end of their lives, they realize that they could have been happier, could have experienced more joy. When facing death, they suddenly wish for more time to "blaze" and "be gay." Each kind of person seems to regret something when they realize they are out of time, and this simile shows that the grave men realize they need not take everything so seriously. They wish for more time to be happy and to let their eyes light up like meteors shooting across the sky. It is, like the rest of the comparisons in the poem, quite sad.