Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN HOSPITAL: 5. OPERATION, by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You are carried in a basket Last Line: On a hushed, attentive audience. Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E. Subject(s): Hospitals; Surgery | ||||||||
You are carried in a basket, Like a carcase from the shambles, To the theatre, a cockpit Where they stretch you on a table. Then they bid you close your eyelids, And they mask you with a napkin, And the anesthetic reaches Hot and subtle through your being. And you gasp and reel and shudder In a rushing, swaying rapture, While the voices at your elbow Fade -- receding -- fainter-- farther. Lights about you shower and tumble, And your blood seems crystallising -- Edged and vibrant, yet within you Racked and hurried back and forward. Then the lights grow fast and furious, And you hear a noise of waters, And you wrestle, blind and dizzy, In an agony of effort, Till a sudden lull accepts you, And you sound an utter darkness . . . And awaken . . . with a struggle . . . On a hushed, attentive audience. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FOR H. V. (1901-1927) by WELDON KEES OUTSIDE THE OPERATING ROOM OF THE SEX-CHANGE DOCTOR by SHARON OLDS SONG FOR MY LOVER: 11. A MEDICAL STUDENT LEARNS LOVE AND DEA by RAFAEL CAMPO SONG FOR MY LOVER: 13. TOWARDS CURING AIDS by RAFAEL CAMPO AN AMERICAN BEAUTY; FOR ANN LONDON by CAROLYN KIZER SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PAULINE BARRETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS BALLADE OF DEAD ACTORS by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY |
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