Public-domain source text

Johndonkey

by Ambrose Bierce

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry

There isn’t a man living who does not have at least a sneaking reverence for a horse-shoe.
Thus the poor ass whose appetite has ne’er Known than the thistle any sweeter fare Thinks all the world eats thistles. Thus the clown, The wit and Mentor of the country town, Grins through the collar of a horse and thinks Others for pleasure do as he for drinks, Though secretly, because unwilling still In public to attest their lack of skill. Each dunce whose life and mind all follies mar Believes as he is all men living are⁠— His vices theirs, their understandings his; Naught that he knows not, all he fancies, is , How odd that any mind such stuff should boast! How natural to write it in the Post !

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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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