To My Laundress

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



Saponacea, wert thou not so fair
I'd curse thee for thy multitude of sins
For sending home my clothes all full of pins
A shirt occasionally that's a snare
And a delusion, got, the Lord knows where,
The Lord knows why-a sock whose outs and ins
None know, nor where it ends nor where begins,
And fewer cuffs than ought to be my share.
But when I mark thy lilies how they grow,
And the red roses of thy ripening charms,
I bless the lovelight in thy dark eyes dreaming.
I'll never pay thee, but I'd gladly go
Into the magic circle of thine arms,
Supple and fragrant from repeated steaming.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
53

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDECDE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 580
Words 113
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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