In Hospital After. 
By Henley, William Ernest. 


Like as a flamelet blanketed in smoke,
So through the anaesthetic shows my life;
So flashes and so fades my thought, at strife
With the strong stupor that I heave and choke
And sicken at, it is so foully sweet.
Faces look strange from space -and disappear.
Far voices, sudden loud, offend my ear - 
And hush as sudden. Then my senses fleet
All were a blank, save for this dull, new pain
That grinds my leg and foot; and brokenly
Time and the place glimpse on to me again;
And, unsurprised, out of uncertainty,
I wake -relapsing -somewhat faint and fain,
To an immense, complacent dreamery.