{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/mad",
 "title": "Mad",
 "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": 21,
 "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": 36,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 30,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "O ye who push and fight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hear a wanton sing⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Who utter the delight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That has the bogus ring⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O men mature in years,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In understanding young,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The membranes of whose ears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She tickles with her tongue⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O wives and daughters sweet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who call it love of art",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To kiss a woman’s feet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That crush a woman’s heart⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O prudent dams and sires,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your docile young who bring",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To see how man admires",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sinner if she sing⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O husbands who impart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To each assenting spouse",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The lesson that shall start",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The buds upon your brows⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All whose applauding hands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Assist to rear the fame",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That throws o’er all the lands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shadow of its shame⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Go drag her car!⁠—the mud",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through which its axle rolls",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is partly human blood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And partly human souls.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Mad, mad!⁠—your senses whirl",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like devils dancing free,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Because a strolling girl",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Can hold the note high C.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For this the avenging rod",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Heaven ye dare defy,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And tear the law that God",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thundered from Sinai!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}