{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/at-the-observatory",
 "title": "At the Observatory",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V",
 "book_slug": "collected-works-v",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 24,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1911,
  "venue": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V (1911)",
  "note": "Taken from Volume V of the Neale collected edition (copyright 1911). That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume's own preface states that most of its verses are republished from newspapers and periodicals of the Pacific Coast, and which of them printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich"
  ]
 },
 "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": 33,
  "n_stanzas": 2,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Mahatma Holden, Autocrat of Stars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fixed to the telescope his curious eye",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And waited for some great phenomenon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To seek his field of vision. Years and years,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Retiring early, rising with the sun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With patience proof against defeat, he still",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had sought some grand discovery; and still,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dogging the footsteps of endeavor, came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Grim disappointment and in mockery",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Derided him. But now, even as he gazed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A great white light crept up the sky, and lo!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the telescope’s illumined ken",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swam with a stately grace a noble orb,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And paused in mid-field of the mighty tube!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Mahatma Holden, Autocrat of Stars,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was found next morn beneath the instrument,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Senseless and motionless as one that’s dead.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“By some emotion overcome,” said one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Sometime physician to the Ghug of Smat)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who with sharp stimulants and kindly words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strove to revive him. Scarcely had the fresh",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And wholesome air saluted both his lungs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than, “Paper!” cried he⁠—“paper, pen and ink!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quick, ere the glorious memory fades! Ah, friends,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not all in vain my vigils and my skill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To read the secrets of the upper deep:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At last I’m famous and my name shall ring",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Adown the centuries unlinked with theirs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My menials, Burnham, Bar⁠—” he faltered then,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet with a mighty effort peaced himself,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mastered his spirit, calmly gazed about",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, with angelic dignity, explained:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I’ve found the Moon!” And it was even so.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}