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").
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
Judex Judicatus
Judge Armstrong, when the poor have sought your aid,To be released from vows that they have madeIn haste, and leisurely repented, you,As stern as..
© Ambrose Bierce
Johndonkey
Thus the poor ass whose appetite has ne'erKnown than the thistle any sweeter fareThinks all the world eats thistles. Thus the clown,The wit and..
© Ambrose Bierce
James L. Flood
As oft it happens in the youth of dayThat mists obscure the sun's imperfect ray,Who, as he's mounting to the dome's extreme,Smites and dispels them..
© Ambrose Bierce
J.F.B.
How well this man unfolded to our viewThe world's beliefs of Death and Heaven and HellThis man whose own convictions none could tell,Nor if his maze..
© Ambrose Bierce
Invocation
Goddess of Liberty! O thouWhose tearless eyes behold the chain,And look unmoved upon the slain,Eternal peace upon thy brow,-Before thy shrine the..
© Ambrose Bierce
Inspiration
O hoary sculptor, stay thy hand:I fain would view the lettered stone.What carvest thou?-perchance some grandAnd solemn fancy all thine own.For oft to..
© Ambrose Bierce
Industrial Discontent
As time rolled on the whole world came to beA desolation and a darksome curse;And some one said: 'The changes that you seeIn the fair frame of..
© Ambrose Bierce
Indicted
Dear Bruner, once we had a little talk(That is to say, 'twas I did all the talking)About the manner of your moral walk:How devious the trail you made..
© Ambrose Bierce
Incurable
From pride, joy, hate, greed, melancholyFrom any kind of vice, or folly,Bias, propensity or passionThat is in prevalence and fashion,Save one, the..
© Ambrose Bierce
In Upper San Francisco
I heard that Heaven was bright and fair,And politicians dwelt not there. ‘Twas said by knowing ones that theyWere in the Elsewhere-so to say. So..
© Ambrose Bierce
In The Binnacle
The Church's compass, if you please,Has two or three (or more) degreesOf variation;And many a soul has gone to griefOn this or that or t'other..
© Ambrose Bierce
In Memoriam
Beauty (they called her) wasn't a maidOf many things in the world afraid.She wasn't a maid who turned and fledAt sight of a mouse, alive or dead.She..
© Ambrose Bierce
In His Hand
De Young (in Chicago the story is told)'Took his life in his hand,' like a warrior bold,And stood before Buckley-who thought him behind,For Buckley..
© Ambrose Bierce
In High Life
Sir Impycu Lackland, from over the sea,Has led to the altar Miss Bloatie Bondee.The wedding took place at the Church of St. Blare;The fashion, the..
© Ambrose Bierce
In Defense
You may say, if you please, Johnny Bull, that our girlsAre crazy to marry your dukes and your earls;But I’ve heard that the maids of your own little..
© Ambrose Bierce
In Contumaciam
Och! Father McGlynn,Ye appear to be inFer a bit of a bout wid the Pope;An' there's divil a doubtBut he's knockin' ye outWhile ye're hangin' onto the..
© Ambrose Bierce
Ignis Fatuus
Weep, weep, each loyal partisan,For Buckley, king of hearts;A most accomplished man; a manOf parts-of foreign parts.Long years he ruled with gentle..
© Ambrose Bierce
Humility
Great poets fire the world with fagots bigThat make a crackling racket,But I'm content with but a whispering twigTo warm some single jacket.
© Ambrose Bierce