{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/on-a-proposed-crematory",
 "title": "On a Proposed Crematory",
 "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": 16,
 "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": 44,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "When a fair bridge is builded o’er the gulf",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between two cities, some ambitious fool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hot for distinction, pleads for earliest leave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To push his clumsy feet upon the span,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That men in after years may single him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Saying: “Behold the fool who first went o’er!”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So be it when, as now the promise is,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Next summer sees the edifice complete",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which some do name a crematorium,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within the vantage of whose greater maw’s",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Quicker digestion we shall cheat the worm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And circumvent the handed mole who loves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With tunnel, adit, drift and roomy stope,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mine our mortal parts in all their dips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And spurs and angles. Let the fool stand forth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To link his name with this fair enterprise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As first decarcassed by the flame. And if",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With rival greedings for the fiery fame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They push in clamoring multitudes, or if",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With unaccustomed modesty they all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hold off, being something loth to qualify,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let me select the fittest for the rite.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By heaven! I’ll make so warrantable, wise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And excellent censure of their true deserts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And such a searching canvass of their claims,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That none shall bait the ballot. I’ll spread my choice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the main and general of those",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who, moved of holy impulse, pulpit-born,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Protested ’twere a sacrilege to burn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God’s gracious images, designed to rot⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bellowed for the right of way for each",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distempered carrion through the water pipes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With such a sturdy, boisterous exclaim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They did discharge themselves from their own throats",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Against the splintered gates of audience",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twere wholesomer to take them in at mouth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than ear. These shall burn first: their ignoble",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And seasoned substances⁠—trunks, legs and arms,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Blent indistinguishable in a mass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like winter-woven serpents in a pit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "None vantaged with unfair precedency",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all impartially alive⁠—shall serve",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As fueling to fervor the retort",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For after cineration of true men.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}