Page:Bierce - Collected Works - Volume 04.djvu/32

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'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.