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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN HOSPITAL: 4. BEFORE, by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold me waiting - waiting for the knife
Last Line: You carry caesar and his fortunes - steady!
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Subject(s): Hospitals
First Line: Behold me waiting - waiting for the knife
Last Line: You carry caesar and his fortunes - steady!
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Subject(s): Hospitals
Behold me waiting -- waiting for the knife.
A little while, and at a leap I storm
The thick, sweet mystery of chloroform,
The drunken dark, the little death-in-life.
The gods are good to me: i have no wife,
No innocent child, to think of as I near
The fateful minute; nothing all-too dear
Unmans me for my bout of passive strife.
Yet am I tremulous and a trifle sick,
And, face to face with chance, I shrink a little:
My hopes are strong, my will is something weak.
Here comes the basket? Thank you. I am ready.
But, gentlemen, my porters, life is brittle:
You carry Caesar and his fortunes - steady!
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