<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=342681" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>A Spade</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Precursor of our woes, historic spade,<br>What dismal records burn upon thy blade!<br>On thee I see the maculating stains<br>Of passengers' commingled blood and brains.<br>In this red rust a widow's curse appears,<br>And here an orphan tarnished thee with tears.<br>Upon thy handle sanguinary bands<br>Reveal the clutching of thine owner's hands<br>When first he wielded thee with vigor brave<br>To cut a sod and dig a people's grave<br>(For they who are debauched are dead and ought,<br>In God's name, to be hid from sight and thought.)<br>Within thee, as within a magic glass,<br>I seem to see a foul procession pass<br>Judges with ermine dragging in the mud<br>And spotted here and there with guiltless blood;<br>Gold-greedy legislators jingling bribes;<br>Kept editors and sycophantic scribes;<br>Liars in swarms and plunderers in tribes;<br>They fade away before the night's advance,<br>And fancy figures thee a devil's lance<br>Gleaming portentous through the misty shade,<br>While ghosts of murdered virtues shriek about my blade!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Ambrose+Bierce">Ambrose Bierce</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=342681" data-title="A Spade de Ambrose Bierce" data-description="Precursor of our woes, historic spade, What dismal records burn upon thy blade! On thee I see the maculating stains Of passengers' commingled blood and brains. In this red rust a widow's curse appears, And here an orphan tarnished thee with tears...."></div> </div> </div>

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