By A Defeated Litigant

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



Liars for witnesses; for lawyers brutes
Who lose their tempers to retrieve their suits;
Cowards for jurors; and for judge a clown
Who ne'er took up the law, yet lays it down;
Justice denied, authority abused,
And the one honest person the accused
Thy courts, my country, all these awful years,
Move fools to laughter and the wise to tears.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

18 sec read
48

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCAA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 340
Words 62
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8

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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    "By A Defeated Litigant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1732/by-a-defeated-litigant>.

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