In the Theatre

This is based on truth, in a 1938 Cardiff hospital, they were locating a brain tumour but due to the time era only local anaesthetic was given.

The stanza starts with what the sister on the ward thinking, "only two more on the list" this sounds un-sympathetic but as she only thought it, she kept it to herself. "small voices, small lies" suggesting they don't mean much. Abse gets to a serious point as he talks of the horrors and if they make "a  man laugh" then you should feel bad. Though the operation is made to make you better it can also create more problems as "two more on the list"."

The "patients eyes too wide" showing fear and pain the patients are more awake as they cry "leave my soul alone" shouting in desperation and can't cope with the pain, the nurses and sisters are described as being "petrified" perhaps showing little faith in what may happen. His voice is described as "artic" meaning coldness and a high pitch however the last stanza shows a change in the patient
"leave....my...soul...alone" these gaps in the voice, show breathlessness and gone suggest the patient is slowly dying, this idea is concluded with the "silence"