poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

Read more poems by Robert Service: Robert Service Poems at Poetry X.

So often in the mid of night
          I wake me in my bed
With utter panic of affright
          To find my feet are dead;
And pace the floor to easy my pain
          And make them live again.

The folks at home are so discreet;
          They see me walk and walk
To keep the blood-flow in my feet,
          And though they never talk
I've heard them whisper: 'Mother may
          Have them cut off some day.'

Cut off my feet! I'd rather die . . .
          And yet the years of pain,
When in the darkness I will lie
          And pray to God in vain,
Thinking in agony: Oh why
Can doctors not annul our breath
          In honourable death?

Added: 29 Jun 2002 | Last Read: 4 Sep 2026 3:33 AM | Viewed: 4858 times

A PoetryNotes™ Analysis of Gangrene by Robert Service, is Available!

A PoetryNotes™ eBook is available for this poem for delivery within 24 hours, and usually available within minutes during normal business hours.

ON SALE - only $29.95 19.95!

For more information...