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 American Party

Oh, Marcus D. Boruck, me hearty,I sympathize wid ye, poor lad!A man that's shot out of his partyIs mighty onlucky, bedad!An' the sowl o' that man is..

© Ambrose Bierce

The Aesthetes

The lily cranks, the lily cranks,The loppy, loony lasses!They multiply in rising ranksTo execute their solemn pranks,They moon along in masses.Blow..

© Ambrose Bierce

Thanksgiving

_The Superintendent of an Almshouse. A Pauper._SUPERINTENDENT:So _you're_ unthankful-you'll not eat the bird?You sit about the place all day and..

© Ambrose Bierce

Tempora Mutantur

'The world is dull,' I cried in my despair:'Its myths and fables are no longer fair.'Roll back thy centuries, O Father Time.To Greece transport me in..

© Ambrose Bierce

Technology

'Twas a serious person with locks of grayAnd a figure like a crescent;His gravity, clearly, had come to stay,But his smile was evanescent.He stood..

© Ambrose Bierce

T.A.H.

YES, he was that, or that, as you prefer,—Did so and so, though, faith, it was n’t all;Lived like a fool, or a philosopher,And had whatever’s needful..

© Ambrose Bierce

Surprised

'O son of mine age, these eyes lose their fire:Be eyes, I pray, to thy dying sire.''O father, fear not, for mine eyes are brightI read through a..

© Ambrose Bierce

Subterranean Phantasies

I died. As meekly in the earth I lay,With shriveled fingers reverently folded,The worm-uncivil engineer!-my clayTunneled industriously, and the mole..

© Ambrose Bierce

Substance Versus Shadow

So, gentle critics, you would have me tilt,Not at the guilty, only just at Guilt!Spare the offender and condemn Offense,And make life miserable to..

© Ambrose Bierce

Strained Relations

Says England to Germany: 'Africa's ours.'Says Germany: 'Ours, I opine.'Says Africa: 'Tell me, delectable Pow'rs,What is it that ought to be mine?'

© Ambrose Bierce

Stoneman In Heaven

The Seraphs came to Christ, and said: 'Behold!The man, presumptuous and overbold,Who boasted that his mercy could excelThine own, is dead and on his..

© Ambrose Bierce

Stephen J. Field

Here sleeps one of the greatest studentsOf jurisprudence.Nature endowed him with the giftOf the juristhrift.All points of law alike he threwThe dice..

© Ambrose Bierce

Stephen Dorsey

Fly, heedless stranger, from this spot accurst,Where rests in Satan an offender firstIn point of greatness, as in point of time,Of new-school rascals..

© Ambrose Bierce

Something In The Papers

'What's in the paper?' Oh, it's dev'lish dull:There's nothing happening at all-a lullAfter the war-storm. Mr. Someone's wifeKilled by her lover with..

© Ambrose Bierce

Slickens

DRAMATIS PERSONAE. HAYSEED _a Granger_NOZZLE _a Miner_RINGDIVVY _a Statesman_FEEGOBBLE _a Lawyer_JUNKET _a Committee_ _Scene_-Yuba Dam. _Feegobble..

© Ambrose Bierce

Slander

FITCH:'All vices you've exhausted, friend;So all the papers say.'PICKERING:'Ah, what vile calumnies are penned!-'Tis just the other way.'

© Ambrose Bierce

Sires And Sons

Wild wanton Luxury lays waste the landWith difficulty tilled by Thrift's hard hand!Then dies the State!-and, in its carcass found,The millionaires..

© Ambrose Bierce

Samuel Shortridge

Like a worn mother he attempts in vainTo still the unruly Crier of his brain:The more he rocks the cradle of his chinThe more uproarious grows the..

© Ambrose Bierce

Salvini In America

Come, gentlemen-your gold.Thanks: welcome to the show.To hear a story toldIn words you do not know.Now, great Salvini, riseAnd thunder through your..

© Ambrose Bierce

Safety-Clutch

Once I seen a human ruinIn a elevator-well.And his members was bestrewin'All the place where he had fell.And I says, apostrophisin'That uncommon..

© Ambrose Bierce

Rimer

The rimer quenches his unheeded fires,The sound surceases and the sense expires.Then the domestic dog, to east and west,Expounds the passions burning..

© Ambrose Bierce

Revenge

A spitcat sate on a garden gateAnd a snapdog fared beneath;Careless and free was his mien, and heHeld a fiddle-string in his teeth.She marked his..

© Ambrose Bierce

Reminded

Beneath my window twilight madeFamiliar mysteries of shade.Faint voices from the darkening downWere calling vaguely to the town.Intent upon a low..

© Ambrose Bierce

Religious Progress

Professor dear, I think it queerThat all these good religions('Twixt you and me, some two or threeAre schemes for plucking pigeons)I mean 'tis..

© Ambrose Bierce

Religion

Hassan Bedreddin, clad in rags, ill-shod,Sought the great temple of the living God.The worshippers arose and drove him forth,And one in power beat..

© Ambrose Bierce