 | The collected works of Ambrose Bierce |  |
268
A CRITIC
That from you, neighbor! to whose vacant lot
Each rhyming literary knacker scourges
His cart-compelling Pegasus to trot,
As folly, vanity or famine urges?
Each rhyming literary knacker scourges
His cart-compelling Pegasus to trot,
As folly, vanity or famine urges?
Admonished by the stimulating goad,
How gaily, lo! the spavined crow-bait prances—
Its cart before it—eager to unload
The dead-dog sentiments and swill-tub fancies.
How gaily, lo! the spavined crow-bait prances—
Its cart before it—eager to unload
The dead-dog sentiments and swill-tub fancies.
Gravely the sweating scavenger pulls out
The tail-board of his curst imagination,
Shoots all his rascal rubbish and, no doubt,
Thanks Fortune for so good a dumping-station.
The tail-board of his curst imagination,
Shoots all his rascal rubbish and, no doubt,
Thanks Fortune for so good a dumping-station.
To improve your property, the vile cascade
Your thrift invites—to make a higher level.
In vain: with tons of garbage overlaid,
Your baseless bog sinks slowly to the devil.
Your thrift invites—to make a higher level.
In vain: with tons of garbage overlaid,
Your baseless bog sinks slowly to the devil.
“Rubbish may be shot here”—familiar sign!
I seem to see it in your every column.
You have your wish, but, sir, if I had mine
'Twould to your editors mean something solemn.
I seem to see it in your every column.
You have your wish, but, sir, if I had mine
'Twould to your editors mean something solemn.
| The collected works of Ambrose Bierce | |