Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)From In Hospital: Discharged
C
Into the wind and the sunshine,
Into the beautiful world.
The stature and strength of the horses,
The rustle and echo of footfalls,
The flat roar and rattle of wheels!
A swift tram floats huge on us …
It’s a dream?
The smell of the mud in my nostrils
Blows brave—like a breath of the sea!
Ambulant, undulant drapery,
Vaguely and strangely provocative,
Flutters and beckons. O, yonder—
Is it?—the gleam of a stocking!
Sudden, a spire
Wedged in the mist! O, the houses,
The long lines of lofty, grey houses,
Cross-hatched with shadow and light!
These are the streets….
Each is an avenue leading
Whither I will!
Dizzy, hysterical, faint,
I sit, and the carriage rolls on with me
Into the wonderful world.
T