{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/a-song-of-the-many",
 "title": "A Song of the Many",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "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": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 40,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "God’s people sorely were oppressed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I heard their lamentations long;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I hear their singing, clear and strong,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I see their banners in the West!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The captains shout the battle-cry,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The legions muster in their might;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They turn their faces to the light,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They lift their arms, they testify:",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“We sank beneath the masters’ thong,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our chafing chains were ne’er undone;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Now clash your lances in the sun",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And bless your banners with a song!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“God bides His time with patient eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While tyrants build upon the land;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He lifts His face, he lifts His hand,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And from the stones His temples rise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Now Freedom waves her joyous wing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond the foemen’s shields of gold.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "March forward, singing, for, behold,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The right shall rule while God is King!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}