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").
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
An Unmerry Christmas
Christmas, you tell me, comes but once a year.One place it never comes, and that is here.Here, in these pages no good wishes spring,No well-worn..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Undress Uniform
The apparel does _not_ proclaim the manPolonius lied like a partisan,And Salomon still would a hero seemIf (Heaven dispel the impossible dream!)He..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Offer Of Marriage
Once I 'dipt into the future far as human eye could see,'And saw-it was not Sandow, nor John Sullivan, but sheThe Emancipated Woman, who was weeping..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Obituarian
Death-poet Pickering sat at his desk,Wrapped in appropriate gloom;His posture was pensive and picturesque,Like a raven charming a tomb.Enter a party..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Interpretation
Now Lonergan appears upon the boards,And Truth and Error sheathe their lingual swords.No more in wordy warfare to engage,The commentators bow before..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Inscription (For A Statue Of Napoleon, At West Point)
A famous conqueror, in battle brave,Who robbed the cradle to supply the grave.His reign laid quantities of human dust:He fell upon the just and the..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Inscription (For A Proposed Monument In Washington)
Erected to 'Boss' Shepherd by the dearGood folk he lived and moved among in peaceGuarded on either hand by the police,With soldiers in his front and..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Inscription
A conqueror as provident as brave,He robbed the cradle to supply the grave.His reign laid quantities of human dust:He fell upon the just and the..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Imposter
Must you, Carnegie, evermore explainYour worth, and all the reasons give againWhy black and red are similarly white,And you and God identically..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Idler
Who told Creed Haymond he was witty?-whoHad nothing better in this world to do?Could no greased pig's appeal to his embraceKindle his ardor for the..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Explanation
'I never yet exactly could determineJust how it is that the judicial ermineIs kept so safely from predacious vermin.''It is not so, my friend: though..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Exile
'Tis the census enumeratorA-singing all forlorn:It's ho! for the tall potater,And ho! for the clustered corn.The whiffle-tree bends in the breeze and..
© Ambrose Bierce
An 'Exhibit'
Goldenson hanged! Well, Heaven forbidThat I should smile above him:Though truth to tell, I never didExactly love him.It can't be wrong, though, to..
© Ambrose Bierce
An Example
They were two deaf mutes, and they loved and theyResolved to be groom and bride;And they listened to nothing that any could say,Nor ever a word..
© Ambrose Bierce