Stephen Dorsey

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



Fly, heedless stranger, from this spot accurst,
Where rests in Satan an offender first
In point of greatness, as in point of time,
Of new-school rascals who proclaim their crime.
Skilled with a frank loquacity to blab
The dark arcana of each mighty grab,
And famed for lying from his early youth,
He sinned secure behind a veil of truth.
Some lock their lips upon their deeds; some write
A damning record and conceal from sight;
Some, with a lust of speaking, die to quell it.
His way to keep a secret was to tell it.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
92

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDAAAA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 514
Words 98
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12

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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