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").
On The Wedding Of The Aeronaut
Aeronaut, you're fairly caught,Despite your bubble's leaven:Out of the skies a lady's eyesHave brought you down to Heaven!No more, no more you'll..
© Ambrose Bierce
On The Platform
When Dr. Bill Bartlett stepped out of the humOf Mammon's distracting and wearisome strifeTo stand and deliver a lecture on 'SomeConditions of..
© Ambrose Bierce
On Stone
As in a dream, strange epitaphs I see,Inscribed on yet unquarried stone,Where wither flowers yet unstrownThe Campo Santo of the time to be.
© Ambrose Bierce
On A Proposed Crematory
When a fair bridge is builded o'er the gulfBetween two cities, some ambitious fool,Hot for distinction, pleads for earliest leaveTo push his clumsy..
© Ambrose Bierce
Omnes Vanitas
Alas for ambition's possessor!Alas for the famous and proud!The Isle of Manhattan's best dresserIs wearing a hand-me-down shroud.The world has..
© Ambrose Bierce
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