In ‘When Tomorrow starts Without Me’ Romano explores themes of love, death, and grief. Through an image of the Christian afterlife, the poet creates a monologue that explains a speaker’s death, his place with God, and tries to give solace to all those who have lost someone.

The poem comes from the perspective of a speaker who is considering his own death. It is written not in fear of that death, but in order to soothe those who might cry when he’s gone. The speaker tells the intended listener/s that there is no reason to cry as he has simply gone to heaven with God and the angels. 

The poem is a nine-stanza that is separated into sets of four lines, known as quatrains. These quatrains follow a rhyme scheme of ABCB, changing end sounds from stanza to stanza. There are a few sections of the poem where Romano chose to add additional end rhymes. For example, in stanza one lines one, two, and four all rhyme. A close reader can also find examples of internal rhymes, or rhymes that are inside the lines other than at the ends. For instance, “rise” and “eyes” in line three of the first stanza or “way” and “today” in line two of the second stanza.