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").
The Passing Show
II know not if it was a dream. I viewedA city where the restless multitude,Between the eastern and the western deepHad reared gigantic fabrics..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Passing Of 'Boss' Shepherd
The sullen church-bell's intermittent moan,The dirge's melancholy monotone,The measured march, the drooping flags, attestA great man's progress to..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Opposing Sex
The Widows of AshurAre loud in their wailing:'No longer the 'masher'Sees Widows of Ashur!'So each is a lasherOf Man's smallest failing.The Widows of..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Oleomargarine Man
Once-in the county of Marin,Where milk is sold to purchase ginRenowned for butter and renownedFor fourteen ounces to the poundA bull stood watching..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Oakland Dog
I lay one happy night in bedAnd dreamed that all the dogs were dead.They'd all been taken out and shotTheir bodies strewed each vacant lot.O'er all..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Night Of Election
'O venerable patriot, I prayStand not here coatless; at the break of dayWe'll know the grand result-and even nowThe eastern sky is faintly touched..
© Ambrose Bierce
The New 'Ulalume'
The skies they were ashen and sober,The leaves they were crisped and sere,' ' ' withering ' 'It was night in the lonesome OctoberOf my most..
© Ambrose Bierce
The New Enoch
Enoch Arden was an ableSeaman; hear of his mishapNot in wild mendacious fable,As 't was told by t' other chap;For I hold it is a youthfulIndiscretion..
© Ambrose Bierce
The New Decalogue
Have but one God: thy knees were sore If bent in prayer to three or four. Adore no images save those The coinage of thy country shows. Take not..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Naval Constructor
He looked upon the ships as theyAll idly lay at anchor,Their sides with gorgeous workmen gayThe riveter and plankerRepublicans and..
© Ambrose Bierce
The National Guardsman
I'm a gorgeous golden heroAnd my trade is taking life.Hear the twittle-twittle-tweeroOf my sibillating fifeAnd the rub-a-dub-a-dumOf my big bass..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Mummery
THE TWO CAVEESDRAMATIS PERSONAE.FITCH _a Pelter of Railrogues_PICKERING _his Partner, an Enemy to Sin_OLD NICK _a General Blackwasher_DEAD CAT _a..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Militiaman
'O warrior with the burnished armsWith bullion cord and tasselPray tell me of the lurid charmsOf service and the fierce alarms:The storming of the..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Man Born Blind
A man born blind received his sightBy a painful operation;And these are things he saw in the lightOf an infant observation.He saw a merchant, good..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Mad Philosopher
The flabby wine-skin of his brainYields to some pathologic strain,And voids from its unstored abysmThe driblet of an aphorism.
© Ambrose Bierce
The Mackaiad
Mackay's hot wrath to Bonynge, direful springOf blows unnumbered, heavenly goddess, singThat wrath which hurled to Hellman's office floorTwo heroes..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Lost Colonel
''Tis a woeful yarn,' said the sailor man boldWho had sailed the northern-lakes'No woefuler one has ever been toldExceptin' them called 'fakes.'''Go..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Lord's Prayer On A Coin
Upon this quarter-eagle's leveled face,The Lord's Prayer, legibly inscribed, I trace.'Our Father which'-the pronoun there is funny,And shows the..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Legend Of Immortal Truth
A bear, having spread him a notable feast,Invited a famishing fox to the place.'I've killed me,' quoth he, 'an edible beastAs ever distended the..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Legatee
In fair San Francisco a good man did dwell,And he wrote out a will, for he didn't feel well.Said he: 'It is proper, when making a gift,To stimulate..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Last Man
I dreamed that Gabriel took his hornOn Resurrection's fateful morn,And lighting upon Laurel HillBlew long, blew loud, blew high and shrill.The houses..
© Ambrose Bierce
The King Of Bores
Abundant bores afflict this world, and someAre bores of magnitude that-come and-no,They're always coming, but they never goLike funeral pageants, as..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Key Note
I dreamed I was dreaming one morn as I layIn a garden with flowers teeming.On an island I lay in a mystical bay,In the dream I dreamed I was..
© Ambrose Bierce
The In-Coming Climate
Now o' nights the ocean breezeMakes the patient flinch,For that zephyr bears a sneezeIn every cubic inch.Lo! the lively populationChorusing in..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Humorist
'What is that, mother?''The funny man, child.His hands are black, but his heart is mild.''May I touch him, mother?'''T were foolishly done:He is..
© Ambrose Bierce