 | The collected works of Ambrose Bierce |  |
POLYPHEMUS
Twas a sick young man with a face ungay
And an eye that was all alone;
And he shook his head in a hopeless way
As he sat on a roadside stone.
And an eye that was all alone;
And he shook his head in a hopeless way
As he sat on a roadside stone.
“O, ailing youth, what untoward fate
Has made the sun to set
On your mirth and eye?” “I'm constrained to state
I'm an ex-West Point cadet.
Has made the sun to set
On your mirth and eye?” “I'm constrained to state
I'm an ex-West Point cadet.
“'Twas at cannon-practice I got my hurt
And my present frame of mind;
For the gun went off with a double spurt—
Before it, and also behind!”
And my present frame of mind;
For the gun went off with a double spurt—
Before it, and also behind!”
32
“How sad, how sad, that a fine young chap,
When studying how to kill,
Should meet with so terrible a mishap
Precluding eventual skill.
When studying how to kill,
Should meet with so terrible a mishap
Precluding eventual skill.
“Ah, woful to think that a weapon made
For mowing down the foe
Should commit so dreadful an escapade
As to turn about to mow!”
For mowing down the foe
Should commit so dreadful an escapade
As to turn about to mow!”
No more he heeded while I condoled:
He was wandering in his mind;
His lonely eye unconsidered rolled,
And his views he thus defined:
He was wandering in his mind;
His lonely eye unconsidered rolled,
And his views he thus defined:
“'Twas O for a breach of the peace—'twas O
For an international brawl!
But a piece of the breech—ah no, ah no,
I didn't want that at all.”
For an international brawl!
But a piece of the breech—ah no, ah no,
I didn't want that at all.”
| The collected works of Ambrose Bierce | |