Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OPERATION, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OPERATION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: You're late tonight
Last Line: Back to the bedroom.]


Persons:

WILLIAM LOWRY, a printer.
HESTER LOWRY, his wife.
LETTY LOWRY, their daughter.

Scene: A room in tenements, late at night. WILLIAM LOWRY
sits with his coat off, in an armchair, smoking, and
reading a newspaper. The door opens, and HESTER LOWRY
enters. Over her arm is a basket, laden with
purchases, which she lays on the table with a sigh.

WILLIAM. You're late to-night.
You should have let me come with you:
That basket's heavy, wife.
HESTER. 'Twas not the basket, William:
I was kept.
WILLIAM. What kept you, wife?
The shops would not be thronged, to-night.
HESTER. I finished with the shops, three hours ago.
I had to wait my turn.
WILLIAM. Your turn?
Who kept you waiting?
HESTER. The doctors, husband.
WILLIAM. Doctors, wife?
HESTER. I thought 'twas time to have the thing away;
And so I went to see.
The doctors shook their heads;
And said, next week, it might have been too late...
WILLIAM. Too late? What ails you, wife? I never knew...
HESTER. They say it's cancer.
They were very kind;
And wanted me to stay, to-night,
And have it done, at once.
They'd hardly let me leave.
I said, I must come home to see you first.
They'll take me in to-morrow.
WILLIAM. To-morrow, wife! And I ... I never knew.
You must have guessed, before you went...
HESTER. Yes, lad; I knew: and 'twas no shock to me;
I've known so long.
WILLIAM. So long! ... and never told me!
But, lass, the pain...
HESTER. Ay; it was bad to bear.
At first I scarce could keep from crying out;
But, as the years went by...
WILLIAM. The years! You've had the pain for years?
HESTER. Ay, off and on.
It's full eleven years, since first I felt it.
WILLIAM. And, from the first, you knew...
HESTER. I knew.
My father died of it.
WILLIAM. Eleven years! And never breathed a word,
Nor murmured once, but patiently...
HESTER. I come of fisherfolk, who live on patience.
It's little use for any man
To be impatient with the sea.
WILLIAM. And I ... I never guessed.
I've seen you, day by day,
And slept, each night, beside you in the bed;
And yet, you never breathed a word...
HESTER. Nay, lad; I've kept the thing from you:
'Twould not have eased the pain to share it.
You slept the sounder, knowing nothing;
Though, there were times the gnawing was so bad,
I could have torn...
WILLIAM. And I slept on unknowing!
You never even wakened me.
And every little ache I've had,
I've made a pretty song about it!
HESTER. You've made a song!
And what about the time your arm was caught...
Was caught in the machine, and you were hanging...
Were hanging by the flesh, a mortal hour!
WILLIAM. Nay; Michael held me up upon his back.
HESTER. But, all that time your arm was in the wheels;
And you ... you never murmured, once, they say;
But, only laughed, and jested;
Although they had to take a chisel,
And cut each cog out separately,
Before the flesh was freed.
How you could bear the strain and jar,
And never once lose heart,
I cannot think; and your poor arm...
Your poor, poor arm, with all the sinews torn...
WILLIAM. I've never really played the fiddle since:
I've got to make the notes, that used to come.
But you, wife, all these years...
And I slept on...
HESTER. 'Twould not have eased...
WILLIAM. But, if I'd known,
You should have had the doctor at the first.
HESTER. I knew you could not spare me then:
Those were not easy times!
You, laid off idle through your accident,
And Letty, but a baby:
And we had both enough to do,
To keep the home together.
I hoped, at least, to keep things going;
Till I should be past doing things.
The time has come...
But I ... I've saved a bit:
And Letty's thirteen past,
And finished schooling,
And old enough to manage for you.
Is she in bed?
WILLIAM. She went an hour ago.
She wanted sorely to wait up for you;
But she was sleepy, so I wouldn't let her.
HESTER. Ay, she's been at it all day long;
And she's a handy lass,
And will do well enough for you,
Until ... until...
WILLIAM. Does Letty know?
HESTER. Nay, she knows nothing, William;
And I'll not tell her now till morning.
I would not spoil her sleep.
Poor child, she little dreams!
But she's a plucky girl,
And I have taught her everything:
And she can cook, and scrub, and wash,
As well as any woman.
You'll scarcely miss me...
WILLIAM. Wife!
HESTER. I've seen to all your clothes,
And there are shirts and stockings
To last for many weeks,
To last until...
I mayn't be long away.
WILLIAM. O, wife, it's terrible ... I cannot think...
It seems so strange that all these years...
HESTER. You never saw my father:
He suffered long, poor fellow,
But never rightly knew that it was cancer,
Till very nigh the end.
It laid him low at last,
When he was far from home,
After the herring in the Western seas.
The doctor said he must return by train,
But he'd not leave his boat;
And so his mates set sail,
(The season just begun,
And catches heavier than they'd been for years)
And brought him home.
And, when the Ella neared the harbour,
He left his bunk, and took the tiller,
And brought her in himself.
Though, in his heart, he knew it was the last time,
Yet he'd a smile for us;
And when the boat was berthed,
He looked my mother bravely in the eyes,
And clasped her hand, and they went home together.
He never rose again:
The doctors could do nothing:
But he was brave and gay until the end;
And always smiled, and said it did not hurt,
Although his teeth were clenched,
And his strong fingers clutched the bedclothes tightly.
WILLIAM. And you're his daughter, wife!
HESTER. But I've cried out before I'm hurt too sorely.
Next week, the doctors said, it might have been...
It's taken in the nick of time,
And I will soon be well again.
Folk go through such, and worse, each day:
It's naught to make a fuss about.
I've only one more night to bear the pain...
And then...
WILLIAM. Ay, wife, you'll soon be well again,
With such a heart in you.
And yet, if you had gone too long...
You should have told me at the first,
And let us fend...
HESTER. My father brought his boat in.

[The inner door opens, and LETTY stands in the doorway,
in her night-dress.]

LETTY. Is mother not home yet?
Oh, there you are!
You stayed so long to-night,
I've been asleep and dreaming!
Oh, such a dreadful dream!
I dreamt that you...
But you are safe and sound!
You are not ailing, mother?
HESTER. Lass, I'm as well as I have been for years.
But you'll catch cold:
You'd better get to bed again.
LETTY. But, I shall dream.
HESTER. Nay, you'll sleep sound, to-night.

[LETTY kisses her father and mother good-night and goes
back to the bedroom.]





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