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").

Novum Organum

In Bacon see the culminating primeOf Anglo-Saxon intellect and crime.He dies and Nature, settling his affairs,Parts his endowments among us, his..

© Ambrose Bierce

Not Guilty

'I saw your charms in another's arms,'Said a Grecian swain with his blood a-boil;'And he kissed you fair as he held you there,A willing bird in a..

© Ambrose Bierce

Nimrod

There were brave men, some one has truly said,Before Atrides (those were mostly deadBehind him) and ere you could e'er occurActaeon lived, Nimrod and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Nanine

We heard a song-bird trilling'T was but a night ago.Such rapture he was rillingAs only we could know.This morning he is flingingHis music from the..

© Ambrose Bierce

My Monument

It is pleasant to think, as I'm watching my inkA-drying along my paper,That a monument fine will surely be mineWhen death has extinguished my..

© Ambrose Bierce

My Lord Poet

'Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat;'Who sings for nobles, he should noble be.There's no _non sequitur_, I think, in that,And this is logic..

© Ambrose Bierce

Mr. Sheets

The Devil stood before the gateOf Heaven. He had a single mate:Behind him, in his shadow, slunkClay Sheets in a perspiring funk.'Saint Peter, see..

© Ambrose Bierce

Mr. Fink's Debating Donkey

Of a person known as Peters I will humbly crave your leaveAn unusual adventure into narrative to weaveMr. William Perry Peters, of the town of..

© Ambrose Bierce

Montefiore

I SAW—’t was in a dream, the other night—A man whose hair with age was thin and white;One hundred years had bettered by his birth,And still his step..

© Ambrose Bierce

Montague Leverson

As some enormous violet that towersColossal o'er the heads of lowlier flowersIts giant petals royally displayed,And casting half the landscape into..

© Ambrose Bierce

Metempsychosis [once With Christ He Entered Salem]

Once with Christ he entered Salem,Once in Moab bullied Balaam,Once by Apuleius stagedHe the pious much enraged.And, again, his head, as beaver,Topped..

© Ambrose Bierce

Metempsychosis

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.ST. JOHN _a Presidential Candidate_MCDONALD _a Defeated Aspirant_MRS. HAYES _an Ex-President_PITTS-STEVENS _a Water Nymph__Scene_-A..

© Ambrose Bierce

Mendax

High Lord of Liars, Pickering, to theeLet meaner mortals bend the subject knee!Thine is mendacity's imperial crown,Alike by genius, action and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Matter For Gratitude

Be pleased, O Lord, to take a people's thanksThat Thine avenging sword has spared our ranks-That Thou hast parted from our lips the cupAnd forced our..

© Ambrose Bierce

Master Of Three Arts

Your various talents, Goldenson, commandRespect: you are a poet and can draw.It is a pity that your gifted handShould ever have been raised against..

© Ambrose Bierce

Magnanimity

'To the will of the people we loyally bow!'That's the minority shibboleth now.O noble antagonists, answer me flatWhat would you do if you didn't do..

© Ambrose Bierce

Mad

O ye who push and fightTo hear a wanton singWho utter the delightThat has the bogus ring,O men mature in years,In understanding young,The membranes..

© Ambrose Bierce

Lusus Politicus

Come in, old gentleman. How do you do?Delighted, I'm sure, that you've called.I'm a sociable sort of a chap and youAre a pleasant-appearing person..

© Ambrose Bierce

Lucifer Of The Torch

O Reverend Ravlin, once with sounding lungYou shook the bloody banner of your tongue,Urged all the fiery boycotters afieldAnd swore you'd rather..

© Ambrose Bierce

Llewellen Powell

Villain, when the word is spoken,And your chains at last are brokenWhen the gibbet's chilling shadeCeases darkly to enfold you,And the angel who..

© Ambrose Bierce

Liberty

''Let there be Liberty!' God said, and, lo!The red skies all were luminous. The glowStruck first Columbia's kindling mountain peaksOne hundred and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Laus Lucis

Each to his taste: some men prefer to playAt mystery, as others at piquet.Some sit in mystic meditation; someParade the street with tambourine and..

© Ambrose Bierce

L'Audace

Daughter of God! Audacity divineOf clowns the terror and of brains the signNot thou the inspirer of the rushing fool,Not thine of idiots the vocal..

© Ambrose Bierce

Justice

Jack Doe met Dick Roe, whose wife he loved,And said: 'I will get the best of him.'So pulling a knife from his boot, he shovedIt up to the hilt in the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Judgment

I drew aside the Future's veilAnd saw upon his bierThe poet Whitman. Loud the wailAnd damp the falling tear.'He's dead-he is no more!' one cried,With..

© Ambrose Bierce