{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/at-the-eleventh-hour",
 "title": "At the Eleventh Hour",
 "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": 31,
 "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": 28,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "As through the blue expanse he skims",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On joyous wings, the late",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Frank Hutchings overtakes Miss Sims,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both bound for Heaven’s high gate.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "In life they loved and (God knows why",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lover so should sue)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He slew her, on the gallows high",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Died pious⁠—and they flew.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Her pinions were bedraggled, soiled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And torn as by a gale,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While his were bright⁠—all freshly oiled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The feathers of his tail.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Her visage, too, was stained and worn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And menacing and grim;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His sweet and mild⁠—you would have sworn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That she had murdered him.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When they’d arrived before the gate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He said to her: “My dear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis hard once more to separate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But you can’t enter here.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“For you, unluckily, were sent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So quickly to the grave",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "You had no notice to repent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor time your soul to save.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“ ’Tis true,” said she, “and I should wail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Hell even now, but I",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Lingered about the county jail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see a Christian die.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}