“ ‘Empress of China’! I nor rule nor reign:
I wear the purple but to hide the chain—
Free only to hold back the open door
For foreign devils drunk upon my floor.”
Public-domain source text
A Voice from Peking
by Ambrose Bierce
Source record
This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.
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