Ambrose Bierce

At The Close Of The Canvass

'Twas a Venerable Person, whom I met one Sunday morning,
All appareled as a prophet of a melancholy sect;
And in a jeremaid of objurgatory warning
He lifted up his _jodel_ to the following effect:

O ye sanguinary statesmen, intermit your verbal tussles
O ye editors and orators, consent to hear my lay!
And a little while the digital and maxillary muscles
And attend to what a Venerable Person has to say.

Cease your writing, cease your shouting, cease your wild unearthly lying;
Cease to bandy such expressions as are never, never found
In the letter of a lover; cease 'exposing' and 'replying'
Let there be abated fury and a decrement of sound.

For to-morrow will be Monday and the fifth day of November
Only day of opportunity before the final rush.
_Carpe diem!_ go conciliate each person who's a member
Of the other party-do it while you can without a blush.

'Lo! the time is close upon you when the madness of the season
Having howled itself to silence, like a Minnesota 'clone,
Will at last be superseded by the still, small voice of reason,
When the whelpage of your folly you would willingly disown.

'Ah, 'tis mournful to consider what remorses will be thronging,
With a consciousness of having been so ghastly indiscreet,
When by accident untoward two ex-gentlemen belonging
To the opposite political denominations meet!

'Yes, 'tis melancholy, truly, to forecast the fierce, unruly
Supersurging of their blushes, like the flushes upon high
When Aurora Borealis lights her circumpolar palace
And in customary manner sets her banner in the sky.

'Each will think: 'This falsifier knows that I too am a liar.
Curse him for a son of Satan, all unholily compound!
Curse my leader for another! Curse that pelican, my mother!
Would to God that I when little in my victual had been drowned!''

Then that Venerable Person went away without returning
And, the madness of the season having also taken flight,
All the people soon were blushing like the skies to crimson burning
When Aurora Borealis fires her premises by night.

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Ambrose Bierce

At The Close Of The Canvass

'Twas a Venerable Person, whom I met one Sunday morning,
All appareled as a prophet of a melancholy sect;
And in a Jeremiad of objurgatory warning
He lifted up his jodel to the following effect:


'O ye sanguinary statesmen, intermit your verbal tussles!
O ye editors and orators, consent to hear my lay!
Rest a little while the digital and maxillary muscles
And attend to what a Venerable Person has to say.


'Cease your writing, cease your shouting, cease your wild unearthly lying;
Cease to bandy such expressions as are never, never found
In the letter of a lover; cease 'exposing' and 'replying'
Let there be abated fury and a decrement of sound.


'For to-morrow will be Monday and the fifth day of November-
Only day of opportunity before the final rush.
Carpe diem! go conciliate each person who's a member
Of the other party-do so while you can without a blush.


'Lo! the time is close upon you when the madness of the season
Having howled itself to silence like a Minnesota 'clone,
Will at last be superseded by the still, small voice of reason,
When the whelpage of your folly you would willingly disown.


'Ah, 'tis mournful to consider what remorses will be thronging,
With a consciousness of having been so ghastly indiscreet,
When by accident untoward two ex-gentlemen belonging
To the opposite political denominations meet!


'Yes, 'tis melancholy, truly, to forecast the fierce, unruly
Supersurging of their blushes, like the flushes upon high
When Aurora Borealis lights her circumpolar palace
And in customary manner sets her banner in the sky.


'Each will think: 'This falsifier knows that I too am a liar.
Curse him for a son of Satan, all unholily compound!
Curse my leader for another! Curse that pelican, my mother!
Would to God that I when little in my victual had been drowned!''


Then that venerable warner disappeared around a corner,
And the season of unreason having also taken flight,
All the cheeks of men were burning like the skies to crimson turning
When Aurora Borealis fires her premises by night.

poem by Ambrose BierceReport problemRelated quotes
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Cease

cease our pain God
Cease our anger God
Cease the war God
Cease the dark days God
Cease the rain God
Cease the strong winds that are blowing everywhere God
Cease our hunger God
Cease our thirst God

poem by Aldo KraasReport problemRelated quotes
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The Captive Knight

The prisoned thrush may brook the cage,
The captive eagle dies for rage.
Lady of the Lake.


'Twas a trumpet's pealing sound!
And the knight look'd down from the Paynim's tower,
And a Christian host, in its pride and power,
Thro' the pass beneath him wound.
Cease awhile, clarion! Clarion, wild and shrill,
Cease! let them hear the captive's voice–be still!
'I knew 'twas a trumpet's note!
And I see my brethren's lances gleam,
And their pennons wave by the mountain stream,
And their plumes to the glad wind float!
Cease awhile, clarion! Clarion, wild and shrill,
Cease! let them hear the captive's voice–be still!

'I am here, with my heavy chain!
And I look on a torrent sweeping by,
And an eagle rushing to the sky,
And a host, to its battle-plain!
Cease awhile, clarion! Clarion, wild and shrill,
Cease! let them hear the captive's voice–be still!

'Must I pine in my fetters here?
With the wild wave's foam, and the free bird's flight,
And the tall spears glancing on my sight,
And the trumpet in mine ear?
Cease awhile, clarion! Clarion, wild and shrill,
Cease! let them hear the captive's voice–be still!

'They are gone! they have all pass'd by!
They in whose wars I had borne my part,
They that I lov'd with a brother's heart,
They have left me here to die!
Sound again, clarion! Clarion, pour thy blast!
Sound! for the captive's dream of hope is past.'

poem by Felicia Dorothea HemansReport problemRelated quotes
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A Charm for a Mad Woman

O heavenly med'cine, panacea high,
Restore this raging woman to her health,
More worth than hugest sums of worldly wealth,
Exceedingly more worth than any wealth.
O light of grace and reason from the sky,
Illuminate her mad-conceited mind,
And melancholy cease her wits to blind,
Cease, fearful melancholy, her wits to blind.

poem by Gabriel HarveyReport problemRelated quotes
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To R. K.

As long I dwell on some stupendous
And tremendous (Heaven defend us!)
Monstr'-inform'-ingens-horrendous
Demoniaco-seraphic
Penman's latest piece of graphic.
BROWNING.
Will there never come a season
Which shall rid us from the curse
Of a prose which knows no reason
And an unmelodious verse:
When the world shall cease to wonder
At the genius of an Ass,
And a boy's eccentric blunder
Shall not bring success to pass:
When mankind shall be delivered
From the clash of magazines,
And the inkstand shall be shivered
Into countless smithereens:
When there stands a muzzled stripling,
Mute, beside a muzzled bore:
When the Rudyards cease from kipling
And the Haggards Ride no more.

poem by James Kenneth StephenReport problemRelated quotes
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If the wolf would cease his running, the people would cease their shouting.

German proverbsReport problemRelated quotes
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There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave.

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Cease Fire

won't look back though
I was torn to pieces nothing will destroy my determination
I won't be surpressed my voice will now be heard
Cease fire - What did I say I didn't mean to blow the world away
Cease fire - What do you know my mouth is like the barrel of a gun
Cease fire - What did I say

song performed by by Sick Of It All from Scratch The SurfaceReport problemRelated quotes
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They are still existing.

Ideals realized,
They cease to be ideals.
Hopes attained,
They cease to be hopes.
Beliefs proven,
They cease to be beliefs.
Faiths established,
They cease to be faiths.
Mind, faith in god
And belief in His deeds
Are still existing.
29.04.2010

poem by Rm. Shanmugam ChettiarReport problemRelated quotes
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The Same As I

i get so tired
of writing poems
about suffering....

but everywhere i look,
all around me,
people are hurting....

and try as i might,
i cant close my eyes,
cant shut my ears up

to the sounds of need and want.
and i cannot be silent
as long as there's one person

who is not free,
one person whose rights
have been violated....

one person who is hungry,
one person who is homeless,
one person sick who cannot

get medical care....
one person abused, enslaved,
or treated like property...

i cannot, and i will not stop,
for they are the same
as i... i see their faces

every time i look in the mirror!

poem by Eric CockrellReport problemRelated quotes
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God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.

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Shirley MacLaine

The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.

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No Peace

I once saw a honeybee flying away at ease
staring at the human race living with no peace
Oh people! are we deaf dumb blind or naiive
look with a glimmering glance at bees
living in societies a life full of peace
workers rise at dawn collecting honey from trees
drones stand against, protecting female queens
Just stare just gaze and learn please
cease fire, cease fire, cease fire, cease
Not wishing to be a bee just wishing to live at peace

poem by Eman ElhagReport problemRelated quotes
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If You are a Man

If you are a man, and believe in the destiny of mankind
then say to yourself: we will cease to care
about property and money and mechanical devices,
and open our consciousness to the deep, mysterious life
that we are now cut off from.

The machine shall be abolished from the earth again;
it is a mistake that mankind has made;
money shall cease to be, and property shall cease to perplex
and we will find the way to immediate contact with life
and with one another.

To know the moon as we have never known
yet she is knowable.
To know a man as we have never known
a man, as never yet a man was knowable, yet still shall be.

poem by David Herbert LawrenceReport problemRelated quotes
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Happy is the person who can laugh at himself. He will never cease to be amused.

quote by Habib BourguibaReport problemRelated quotes
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You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside.

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Scott Speedman

And once you cease to be a real person, you stop being a good actor.

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Scott Speedman

Once you cease to be a real person, you stop being a good actor.

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On the eve of the parting

.

This is the time,
that I should leave you.

Since this time,
how long should I grieve?

Time and space
in my case has no base.

I have no faith
that time will redress,

Nor do I have hope
that space will erase.

I curse the time
that has left me barren.

I curse the space
that has left me a moron.

This is the time
that I should cease to live.
18.12.2000, Pmdi

poem by Rm. Shanmugam ChettiarReport problemRelated quotes
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When A Person Does Not Know What To Do With Himself

WHEN A PERSON DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH HIMSELF

When a person does not know what to do with himself
When a person feels empty
When a person feels everything he had done and everything he can do do is meaningless
When a person is bored
When a person does not know what to do with himself
And wonders why he is on this earth
And how he will endure more of it
When a person does not know what to do with himself
He must do any little thing he can do
To get himself going-
He must wash the dishes or clean the house or take something to eat or take a small walk or read a page
Or do any one of a million or more other small things to get himself going
And once he is going he must somehow go on and on and from this to something else
So that at some point somewhere along the way somehow
He is doing something
Perhaps not that great
But doing something
And in doing something
Perhaps forgetting about himself
A bit
Perhaps.

poem by Shalom FreedmanReport problemRelated quotes
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