In The Binnacle

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



The Church's compass, if you please,
Has two or three (or more) degrees
Of variation;
And many a soul has gone to grief
On this or that or t'other reef
Through faith unreckoning or brief
Miscalculation.
Misguidance is of perils chief
To navigation.

The obsequious thing makes, too, you'll mark,
Obeisance through a little arc
Of declination;
For Satan, fearing witches, drew
From Death's pale horse, one day, a shoe,
And nailed it to his door to undo
Their machination.
Since then the needle dips to woo
His habitation.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
118

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCCBCB DDBEEEBEB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 510
Words 91
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 9, 9

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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