A Wreath Of Immortelles

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



Judge Sawyer, whom in vain the people tried
To push from power, here is laid aside.
Death only from the bench could ever start
The sluggish load of his immortal part.

____

For those this mausoleum is erected
Who Stanford to the Upper House elected.
Their luck is less or their promotion slower,
For, dead, they were elected to the Lower.

____

Rash mortal! stay thy feet and look around-
This vacant tomb as yet is holy ground;
But soon, alas! Jim Fair will occupy
These premises-then, holiness, good-bye!

____

George Perry here lies stiff and stark,
With stone at foot and stone at head.
His heart was dark, his mind was dark-
'Ignorant ass!' the people said.

Not ignorant but skilled, alas,
In all the secrets of his trade:
He knew more ways to be an ass
Than any ass that ever brayed.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
125

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF GHGH IXIA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 776
Words 147
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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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    "A Wreath Of Immortelles" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1677/a-wreath-of-immortelles>.

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