Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AFTER OPERATION by JULIET BRANHAM

First Line: SICK WITH OTHER ILLS THAN THESE
Last Line: PAIN IS NOT SO LONG AS DEATH.
Subject(s): SICKNESS; ILLNESS;

Sick with other ills than these,
Very sick with these, I lie,
Weak with old hypocrisies,
Pray to die and would not die.

Sense, in dream-like terror caught,
Stands stock-still and cannot swerve,
While he pulls to bits who wrought
Bone and artery and nerve.

In a body soon to rot,
Pain indrawn on every breath,
I would rather stay than not;
Pain is not so long as death.



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