Anæsthesia

I caught the smell of ether From the glass-roofed room Where the hospital stood. Suddenly all about me I felt a mist of anguish And the old, old hour of dread When Death had shambled by.

Yellow with time it is, This letter on which I look; But up from it comes a perfume That stabs me still to the heart; And suddenly, at the odour, Through a ghost-like mist I know Rapture and love and wild regret When Life, and You, went by.