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In Hospital - I - Enter Patient

By William Ernest Henley

Topics: classic

The morning mists still haunt the stony street;     The northern summer air is shrill and cold;     And lo, the Hospital, grey, quiet, old,     Where Life and Death like friendly chafferers meet.     Thro' the loud spaciousness and draughty gloom     A small, strange child - so aged yet so young! -     Her little arm besplinted and beslung,     Precedes me gravely to the waiting-room.     I limp behind, my confidence all gone.     The grey-haired soldier-porter waves me on,     And on I crawl, and still my spirits fail:     A tragic meanness seems so to environ     These corridors and stairs of stone and iron,     Cold, naked, clean - half-workhouse and half-jail.

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"The morning mists still haunt the stony street;..."

This evocative piece by William Ernest Henley, titled "In Hospital - I - Enter Patient", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:William Ernest Henley

"The morning mists still haunt the stony street;..." by William Ernest Henley

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William Ernest Henley

About William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) was an English poet, critic, and editor best known for his poem "Invictus" ("I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul"). Written while recovering from tuberculosis of the bone, it has become one of the most quoted poems of courage and resilience.

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"What have I done for you,     England, my England?..."

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