Ada Bartrick Baker (1854- ). A Palace of Dreams, and Other Verse (1901). IV. In Hospital. Alfred H. Miles, ed. 1907. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century

Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

A Palace of Dreams, and Other Verse (1901)
IV. In Hospital

By Ada Bartrick Baker (1854– )


SO I’m shelved, you see, old fellow; and it seems a trifle rough,
When you’re longing to be at them with the rest;
But I don’t lie here and mope; for the doctors say they hope
I shall soon be fit and lively as the best.

And I had my glorious innings! Oh! we gave them piping hot	5
Such a supper they’re not likely to digest;
And d’ye think I cared a rap, though I’m only a poor chap,
For the bullet that they landed in my chest?

Tell ’em all at home I’m waited on as if I was a lord,
And the nurses are just angels—bar the wings:	10
When you’re lying here so weak that you hardly care to speak,
Oh! the comfort that a woman’s tending brings.

Finished by the Nurse. He was doing well, poor fellow! though the shot had touched his lung,
And the doctors did their best to pull him through.
I was with him when he died. The two locks of hair inside,	15
With his love, are for his mother, and for you.