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").

Dennis Kearney

Your influence, my friend, has gathered headTo east and west its tides encroaching spread.There'll be, on all God's foot-stool, when they meet,No..

© Ambrose Bierce

Democracy

Let slaves and subjects with unvaried psalmsBefore their sovereign execute salaams;The freeman scorns one idol to adoreTom, Dick and Harry and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Decalogue

Thou shalt no God but me adore:'Twere too expensive to have more.No images nor idols makeFor Roger Ingersoll to break.Take not God's name in vain:..

© Ambrose Bierce

De Young-A Prophecy

Running for Senator with clumsy pace,He stooped so low, to win at least a place,That Fortune, tempted by a mark so droll,Sprang in an kicked him to..

© Ambrose Bierce

Creation

God dreamed-the suns sprang flaming into place,And sailing worlds with many a venturous race!He woke-His smile alone illumined space.

© Ambrose Bierce

Couplets

I am for Cutting. I'm a bladeDesigned for use at dress parade.My gleaming length, when I displayPeace rules the land with gentle sway;But when the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Corrected News

'T was a maiden lady (the newspapers say)Pious and prim and a bit gone-gray.She slept like an angel, holy and white,Till ten o' the clock in the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Cooperation

No more the swindler singly seeks his prey;To hunt in couples is the modern wayA rascal, from the public to purloin,An honest man to hide away the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Convalescent [what! 'Out Of Danger?' Can The Slighted Dame]

What! 'Out of danger?' Can the slighted DameOr canting Pharisee no more defame?Will Treachery caress my hand no more,Nor Hatred He alurk about my..

© Ambrose Bierce

Convalescent ['By Good Men's Prayers See Grant Restored!']

'By good men's prayers see Grant restored!'Shouts Talmage, pious creature!Yes, God, by supplication boredFrom every droning preacher,Exclaimed: 'So..

© Ambrose Bierce

Convalescent

What! 'Out of danger?' Can the slighted DameOr canting Pharisee no more defame?Will Treachery caress my hand no more,Nor Hatred lie alurk about my..

© Ambrose Bierce

Contentment

Sleep fell upon my senses and I dreamedLong years had circled since my life had fled.The world was different, and all things seemedRemote and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Contemplation

I muse upon the distant townIn many a dreamy mood.Above my head the sunbeams crownThe graveyard's giant rood.The lupin blooms among the tombs.The..

© Ambrose Bierce

Constancy

Dull were the days and sober,The mountains were brown and bare,For the season was sad OctoberAnd a dirge was in the air.The mated starlings flew..

© Ambrose Bierce

Consolation

Little's the good to sit and grieveBecause the serpent tempted Eve.Better to wipe your eyes and takeA club and go out and kill a snake.What do you..

© Ambrose Bierce

Codex Honoris

Jacob Jacobs, of Oakland, he swore:'Dat Solomon Martin-I'll haf his gore!'Solomon Martin, of Oakland, he said:'Of Shacob Shacobs der bleed I vill..

© Ambrose Bierce

Christian

I dreamed I stood upon a hill, and, lo!The godly multitudes walked to and froBeneath, in Sabbath garments fitly clad,With pious mien, appropriately..

© Ambrose Bierce

Charles And Peter

Ere Gabriel's note to silence diedAll graves of men were gaping wide.Then Charles A. Dana, of 'The Sun,'Rose slowly from the deepest one.'The dead in..

© Ambrose Bierce

Censor Literarum

So, Parson Stebbins, you've released your chinTo say that here, and here, we press-folk ail.'Tis a great thing an editor to skinAnd hang his faulty..

© Ambrose Bierce

Carmelite

As Death was a-riding out one day,Across Mount Carmel he took his way,Where he met a mendicant monk,Some three or four quarters drunk,With a holy..

© Ambrose Bierce

California

Why should he not have been allowedTo thread with peaceful feet the crowdWhich filled that Christian street?The Decalogue he had observed,From Faith..

© Ambrose Bierce

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