"! me, due really soon! "
what is the meaning of the poem "because i could not stop for death"?

The poem is about a deceased woman describing her transition from life to the afterlife. The playing children and fields the narrator sees earlier in the poem is most likely symbolism of her recounting her life before she died. As dusk approaches, she becomes cold and feels like she is under-prepared with what she is wearing. This symbolizes her death, and how she may feel like it was too sudden, and she wasn't ready for it. This is further enforced as how early on, she states she "could not stop for Death" (meaning she felt she was too busy, not ready, etc.) so Death stops for her instead. The whole ride with the man is her being brought to he afterlife by Death.