Sick wards. The sailed beds
becalmed. The nurses tack
hither and fro. The chloroform
breeze rises and falls.
Hospitals are their own
weather. The temperatures
have no relation
to the world outside. The surgeons,
those cunning masters
of navigation, follow
their scalpels’ compass through
hurricanes of pain to a calm
harbour. Somewhere far down
in the patient’s darkness,
where faith died, like a graft
or a transplant prayer
get to work, repairing
the soul’s tissue, leading
the astonishing self between
twin pillars, where life’s angels
stand wielding their bright swords of flame.
.
.
by R. S. Thomas
from Mass for Hard Times
(1992)
Rambling At The Bridge Head 