{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/content",
 "title": "Content",
 "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": 23,
 "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": 14,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 45,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "One day when Satan visited the earth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In order that his eyes might feed his mirth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A loyal follower in sorrow said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Father of Falsehood, to our idols wed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We rear memorials in bronze and stone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To every kind of mortal greatness known;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But not in this thy realm stands anywhere",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A monument or statue to declare",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy greater glory.” With the modest mien",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of violet that loves to bloom unseen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Satan replied: “All earthly fame I shun,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Content with consciousness of work well done.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Statues to heroes! Mine the humble glory",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To tell on every pedestal the story.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}