{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/an-exhibit",
 "title": "An “Exhibit”",
 "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": null,
 "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"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.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": 44,
  "n_stanzas": 11,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 3
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Goldenson hanged! Well, Heaven forbid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I should smile above him:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though truth to tell, I never did",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Exactly love him.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It can’t be wrong, though, to rejoice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That his unpleasing capers",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Are ended. Silent is his voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In all the papers.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No longer he’s a show: no more,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bear-like, his den he’s walking.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "No longer can he hold the floor",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When I’d be talking.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The laws that govern jails are bad",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If such displays are lawful.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The fate of the assassin’s sad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But ours is awful!",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What! shall a wretch condemned to die",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In shame upon the gibbet",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Be set before the public eye",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As an “exhibit”?⁠—",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His looks, his actions noted down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His words, if light or solemn,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And all this hawked about the town⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So much a column?",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The press, of course, will publish news",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "However it may get it;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But blast the sheriff who’ll abuse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His powers to let it!",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Nay, this is not ingratitude;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’m no reporter, truly,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor yet an editor. I’m rude⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perhaps unruly⁠—",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Because I burn with shame and rage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond my power of telling",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To see assassins in a cage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And keepers yelling.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Walk up! Walk up!” the showman cries:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Observe the lion’s poses,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His stormy mane, his glooming eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His⁠—hold your noses!”",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "How long, O Lord, shall Law and Right",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be mocked for gain or glory,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And angels weep as they recite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shameful story?",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ]
 ]
}