{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/a-caller",
 "title": "A Caller",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "book_slug": "black-beetles-in-amber",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 122,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1892,
  "venue": "Black Beetles in Amber (1892)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier"
  ]
 },
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  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 30,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 1
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "“Good morning; you are looking very well,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Said Death as, strolling through the County Jail,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And entering a fat assassin’s cell,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He hung his hat and coat upon a nail.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“I think that life in this secluded spot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Agrees with men of your trade, does it not?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Well, yes,” was the reply, “I can’t complain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Life anywhere⁠—provided it is mine⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Agrees with me; but I observe with pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That still the people murmur and repine.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It hurts their sense of harmony, no doubt,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see a persecuted man grow stout.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O no, ’tis not your growing stout,” said Death,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Which makes these malcontents complain and scold;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They like you to be, somehow, scant of breath.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What they object to is your growing old.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And⁠—though indifferent to lean or fat⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I don’t myself entirely favor that.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With brows that met above the orbs beneath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And nose that like a soaring hawk appeared,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And lifted lip, uncovering his teeth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pampered butcher glacially sneered:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“O, so you don’t! Well, how will you assuage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your spongy passion for the blood of age?”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Death with a clattering convulsion drew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His coat on, hatted his unmeated pow,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Unbarred the door and, stepping partly through,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Turned and made answer: “I will show you how.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I’m going to the Bench you call Supreme",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tap the old women who sit there and dream.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}