the first stanza seems depressing, however when looking closely at the words Abse is saying that he wishes the pain would end sooner. 'to hasten the night would be humane'. As a doctor Abse feels that he cannot do anything to help his father, which must be personally painful because of the family connection. 'i, a doctor, beg a doctor'.
in the second stanza Abse is pleading: 'for one maimed bird we'd do as much, and if a creature need not suffer must he, for etiquette, endure?' Abse is saying that we allow creatures to die if they are in suffering and incureable, so why should 'he' (his father) endure the suffering.
Abse moves into the past tense in this stanza 'earlier'. he remembers his father protecting him, a jew, from auschwitz,he is obviously reminded of the situation beacuse 'he's thin as Auschwitz in that bed'
stanza four has Abse telling us how brave his father is, 'his courage startles me'. he then talks about other people, greek philosipher, socrates and swiss winkelried.
Abse becomes more philosophical in stanza five, 'we quote or misquote in defeat' meaning that when we know we are going to die, we try to see the positives and sometimes quote, for exampe 'kismet' meaning 'fate'. he is also saying that stars are like butchers hooks, hanging peoples souls in the sky after death.
stanza six is back in the hospital with his father 'i grasp his hand so fine' but Abse feels sad and alone and vulnerable now that he is going to lose his father, 'not a handshake either, father, but as i used to as a child'.
stanza seven describes Abse as a child still, who cannot understand why, as a doctor, he is unable to even save is own father. 'night with stars, then night without end', the stars could symbolise the good times Abse and his father had together and the night without end could be the grief that hes feeling now that his fathers gone.
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