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!
Before
William Ernest Henley
(1)
Poem topics: child, dark, death, sick, wife, dear, innocent, sweet, good, ready, weak, chance, strong, knife, storm, mystery, minute, caesar, strife, basket, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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