Public-domain source text

The <i xml:lang="la">Viduate Dame</i>

by Ambrose Bierce

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry

’Tis the widow of Thomas Blythe, And she goeth upon the spree, And red are cheeks of the bystanders For her acts are light and free.
In a seven-ounce costume The widow of Thomas Blythe, Y-perched high on the window ledge, The difficult can-can tryeth.
Ten constables they essay To bate the dame’s halloing. With the widow of Thomas Blythe Their hands are overflowing.
And they cry: “Call the National Guard To quell this parlous muss⁠— For all of the widows of Thomas Blythe Are upon the spree and us!”
O long shall the eerie tale be told By that posse’s surviving tithe; And with tears bedewed he’ll sing this rude Ballàd of the widow of Thomas Blythe.

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