Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Cain

Lord, shed thy light upon his desert path,And gild his branded brow, that no man spillHis forfeit life to balk thy holy willThat spares him for the..

© Ambrose Bierce

By False Pretenses

John S. Hittell, whose sovereign genius wieldsThe quill his tributary body yields;The author of an opera-that is,All but the music and libretto's..

© Ambrose Bierce

By A Defeated Litigant

Liars for witnesses; for lawyers brutesWho lose their tempers to retrieve their suits;Cowards for jurors; and for judge a clownWho ne'er took up the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Business

Two villains of the highest rankSet out one night to rob a bank.They found the building, looked it o'er,Each window noted, tried each door,Scanned..

© Ambrose Bierce

Borrowed Brains

Writer folk across the bayTake the pains to see and sayAll their upward palms in air:'Joaquin Miller's cut his hair!'Hasten, hasten, writer folkIn..

© Ambrose Bierce

'Black Bart, Po8'

Welcome, good friend; as you have served your term,And found the joy of crime to be a fiction,I hope you'll hold your present faith, stand firmAnd..

© Ambrose Bierce

Bimetalism

Ben Bulger was a silver man,Though not a mine had he:He thought it were a noble planTo make the coinage free.'There hain't for years been sech a..

© Ambrose Bierce

Bereavement

A Countess (so they tell the tale)Who dwelt of old in Arno's vale,Where ladies, even of high degree,Know more of love than of A.B.C,Came once with a..

© Ambrose Bierce

Beecher

So, Beecher's dead. His was a great soul, tooGreat as a giant organ is, whose reedsHold in them all the souls of all the creedsThat man has ever..

© Ambrose Bierce

Bats In Sunshine

Well, Mr. Kemble, you are called, I think,A great divine, and I'm a great profane.You as a Congregationalist blinkSome certain truths that I esteem a..

© Ambrose Bierce

Azrael

The moon in the field of the keel-plowed mainWas watching the growing tide:A luminous peasant was driving his wain,And he offered my soul a ride.But..

© Ambrose Bierce

Authority

'Authority, authority!' they shoutWhose minds, not large enough to hold a doubt,Some chance opinion ever entertain,By dogma billeted upon their..

© Ambrose Bierce

At The 'National Encampment'

You 're grayer than one would have thought you:The climate you have over thereIn the East has apparently brought youDisorders affecting the..

© Ambrose Bierce

At The Eleventh Hour

As through the blue expanse he skimsOn joyous wings, the lateFrank Hutchings overtakes Miss Sims,Both bound for Heaven's high gate.In life they loved..

© Ambrose Bierce

At The Close Of The Canvass

'Twas a Venerable Person, whom I met one Sunday morning,All appareled as a prophet of a melancholy sect;And in a Jeremiad of objurgatory warningHe..

© Ambrose Bierce

At Anchor

The soft asphaltum in the sun;Betrays a tendency to run;Whereas the dog that takes his wayAcross its course concludes to stay.

© Ambrose Bierce

Aspiration

Lo! the wild rabbit, happy in the prideOf qualities to meaner beasts denied,Surveys the ass with reverence and fear,Adoring his superior length of..

© Ambrose Bierce

Aspirants Three

DRAMATIS PERSONAE._QUICK_:DE YOUNG _a Brother to Mushrooms__DEAD_:SWIFT _an Heirloom_ESTEE _a Relic__IMMORTALS_:THE SPIRIT OF BROKEN HOPES. THE..

© Ambrose Bierce

Arthur Mcewen

Posterity with all its eyesWill come and view him where he lies.Then, turning from the scene awayWith a concerted shrug, will say:'H'm, Scarabaeus..

© Ambrose Bierce

Art

For Gladstone's portrait five thousand poundsWere paid, 't is said, to Sir John Millais.I cannot help thinking that such fine payTranscended reason's..

© Ambrose Bierce

Arma Virumque

'Ours is a Christian Army'; so he saidA regiment of bangomen who led.'And ours a Christian Navy,' added heWho sailed a thunder-junk upon the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Arboriculture

You may say they won't grow, and say they'll decaySay it again till you're sick of the say,Get up on your ear, blow your blaring bazooAnd hire a hall..

© Ambrose Bierce

Arbor Day

Hasten, children, black and whiteCelebrate the yearly rite.Every pupil plant a tree:It will grow some day to beBig and strong enough to bearA School..

© Ambrose Bierce

Another Way

I lay in silence, dead. A woman cameAnd laid a rose upon my breast, and said,'May God be merciful.' She spoke my name,And added, 'It is strange to..

© Ambrose Bierce

Another Plan

Editor Owen, of San Jose,Commonly known as 'our friend J.J.'Weary of scribbling for daily bread,Weary of writing what nobody read,Slept one day at..

© Ambrose Bierce