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 Hesitating Veteran
When I was young and full of faithAnd other fads that youngsters cherishA cry rose as of one that saithWith emphasis: 'Help or I perish!''Twas heard..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Hermit
To a hunter from the city,Overtaken by the night,Spake, in tones of tender pityFor himself, an aged wight:'I have found the world a fountainOf deceit..
© Ambrose Bierce
The God's View-Point
Cheeta Raibama Chunder Sen,The wisest and the best of men,Betook him to the place where satWith folded feet upon a matOf precious stones beneath a..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Genesis Of Embarrassment
When Adam first saw Eve he said:'O lovely creature, share my bed.'Before consenting, she her gazeFixed on the greensward to appraise,As well as..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Gates Ajar
The Day of Judgment spread its glareO'er continents and seas.The graves cracked open everywhere,Like pods of early peas.Up to the Court of Heaven..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Fyghtynge Seventh
It is the gallant SeventhIt fyghteth faste and free!God wot the where it fyghtethI ne desyre to be.The Gonfalon it flyeth,Seeming a Flayme in Sky;The..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Free Trader's Lament
Oft from a trading-boat I purchased spiceAnd shells and corals, brought for my inspectionFrom the fair tropics-paid a Christian priceAnd was content..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Fountain Refilled
Of Hans Pietro Shanahan(Who was a most ingenious man)The Muse of History recordsThat he'd get drunk as twenty lords.He'd get so truly drunk that..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Foot-Hill Resort
Assembled in the parlorOf the place of last resort,The smiler and the snarlerAnd the guests of every sortThe elocution chapWith rhetoric on tap;The..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Following Pair
O very remarkable mortal,What food is engaging your jawsAnd staining with amber their portal?'It's 'baccy I chaws.'And why do you sway in your..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Fall Of Miss Larkin
Hear me sing of Sally Larkin who, I’d have you understand,Played accordions as well as any lady in the land;And I’ve often heard it stated that her..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Eastern Question
Looking across the line, the Grecian said:'This border I will stain a Turkey red.'The Moslem smiled securely and replied:'No Greek has ever for his..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Dying Statesman
It is a politician manHe draweth near his end,And friends weep round that partisan,Of every man the friend.Between the Known and the UnknownHe lieth..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Division Superintendent
Baffled he stands upon the trackThe automatic switches clack.Where'er he turns his solemn eyesThe interlocking signals rise.The trains, before his..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Debtor Abroad
Grief for an absent lover, husband, friend,Is barely felt before it comes to end:A score of early consolations serveTo modify its mouth's dejected..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Death Of Grant
Father! whose hard and cruel lawIs part of thy compassion's plan,Thy works presumptuously we scanFor what the prophets say they saw.Unbidden still..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Dead King
Hawaii's King resigned his breathOur Legislature guffawed.The awful dignity of deathNot any single rough awed.But when our Legislators dieAll Kings..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Day Of Wrath / Dies Iræ
Day of Satan's painful duty! Dies iræ! dies illa!Earth shall vanish, hot and sooty; Solvet sæclum in favillaSo says Virtue, so says Beauty. Teste..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Cynic's Bequest
In that fair city, Ispahan,There dwelt a problematic man,Whose angel never was released,Who never once let out his beast,But kept, through all the..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Convicts' Ball
San Quentin was brilliant. Within the hallsOf the noble pile with the frowning walls(God knows they've enough to make them frown,With a Governor..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Confederate Flags
Tut-tut! give back the flags - how can you care,You veterans and heroes?Why should you at a kind intention swearLike twenty Neros?Suppose the act was..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Committee On Public Morals
The Senate met in Sacramento city;On public morals it had no committeeThough greatly these abounded. Soon the quietWas broken by the Senators in..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Brothers
Scene-_A lawyer's dreadful den.Enter stall-fed citizen.LAWYER.-'Mornin'. How-de-do?CITIZEN.-Sir, same to you.Called as counsel to retain youIn a case..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Bride
“YOU know, my friends, with what a brave carouseI made a second marriage in my house,—Divorced old barren Reason from my bedAnd took the Daughter of..
© Ambrose Bierce
The Boss's Choice
Listen to his wild romances:He advances foolish fancies,Each expounded as his 'view'Gu.In his brain's opacous clot, ahHe has got a maggot! What aMan..
© Ambrose Bierce