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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN HOSPITAL: 18. CHILDREN: PRIVATE WARD, by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Here in this dim, dull, double-bedded room
Last Line: Holding the limb and moaning -- case and dresser.
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Subject(s): Children; Hospitals; Childhood
First Line: Here in this dim, dull, double-bedded room
Last Line: Holding the limb and moaning -- case and dresser.
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Subject(s): Children; Hospitals; Childhood
Here in this dim, dull, double-bedded room,
I play the father to a brace of boys,
Ailing but apt for every sort of noise,
Bedfast but brilliant yet with health and bloom.
Roden, the Irishman, is 'sieven past,'
Blue-eyed, snub-nosed, chubby, and fair of face.
Willie's but six, and seems to like the place,
A cheerful little collier to the last.
They eat, laugh, and sing, and fight, all day;
All night they sleep like dormice. See them play
At Operations: -- Roden, the Professor,
Saws, lectures, takes the artery up, and ties;
Willie, self-chloroformed, with half-shut eyes,
Holding the limb and moaning -- Case and Dresser.
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