A Challenge

Ambrose Bierce

1842 · Meigs County   –   1914 · Chihuahua


A bull imprisoned in a stall
Broke boldly the confining wall,
And found himself, when out of bounds,
Within a washerwoman's grounds.
Where, hanging on a line to dry,
A crimson skirt inflamed his eye.
With bellowings that woke the dead,
He bent his formidable head,
With pointed horns and gnarly forehead;
Then, planting firm his shoulders horrid,
Began, with rage made half insane,
To paw the arid earth amain,
Flinging the dust upon his flanks
In desolating clouds and banks,
The while his eyes' uneasy white
Betrayed his doubt what foe the bright
Red tent concealed, perchance, from sight.
The garment, which, all undismayed,
Had never paled a single shade,
Now found a tongue-a dangling sock,
Left carelessly inside the smock:
'I must insist, my gracious liege,
That you'll be pleased to raise the siege:
My colors I will never strike.
I know your sex-you're all alike.
Some small experience I've had
You're not the first I've driven mad.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 15, 2023

50 sec read
139

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDDEFFGGHHHDIJJKKLLMM
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 924
Words 163
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 27

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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    "A Challenge" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Nov. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1607/a-challenge>.

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