A Possibility

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



If the wicked gods were willing
(Pray it never may be true!)
That a universal chilling
Should ensue
Of the sentiment of loving,
If they made a great undoing
Of the plan of turtle-doving,
Then farewell all poet-lore,
Evermore.
If there were no more of billing
There would be no more of cooing
And we all should be but owls
Lonely fowls
Blinking wonderfully wise,
With our great round eyes
Sitting singly in the gloaming and no longer two and two,
As unwilling to be wedded as unpracticed how to woo;
With regard to being mated,
Asking still with aggravated
Ungrammatical acerbity: 'To who? To who?'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
57

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABAAACCAADDEEBBFGB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 586
Words 110
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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