Poems

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Author: William Ernest Henley

II—Waiting

A square, squat room (a cellar on promotion),
Drab to the soul, drab to the very daylight;
Plasters astray in unnatural-looking tinware;
Scissors and lint and apothecary’s jars.

Here, on a bench a skeleton would writhe from,
Angry and sore, I wait to be admitted:
Wait till my heart is lead upon my stomach,
While at their ease two dressers do their chores.

One has a probe—it feels to me a crowbar.
A small boy sniffs and shudders after bluestone.
A poor old tramp explains his poor old ulcers.
Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.

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Chicago: William Ernest Henley, "II— Waiting," Poems, ed. Keil, Heinrich, 1822-1894 and trans. Seaton, R. C. in Poems (New York: George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892), Original Sources, accessed December 6, 2023, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CNY13RTTJ8KEMMQ.

MLA: Henley, William Ernest. "II— Waiting." Poems, edited by Keil, Heinrich, 1822-1894, and translated by Seaton, R. C., in Poems, New York, George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Original Sources. 6 Dec. 2023. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CNY13RTTJ8KEMMQ.

Harvard: Henley, WE, 'II— Waiting' in Poems, ed. and trans. . cited in ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Poems, George E. Wood, New York. Original Sources, retrieved 6 December 2023, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CNY13RTTJ8KEMMQ.