{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-lost-colonel",
 "title": "The Lost Colonel",
 "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": 142,
 "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": 56,
  "n_stanzas": 14,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 46,
  "max_indent": 1
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  [
   {
    "text": "“ ’Tis a woeful yarn,” said the sailorman bold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who had sailed the northern lakes⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“No woefuler one has ever been told,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Exceptin’ them called ‘fakes.’ ”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Go on, thou son of the wind and fog,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For I burn to know the worst!”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But his silent lip in a glass of grog",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was dreamily immersed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then he wiped it upon his sleeve and said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“It’s never like that I drinks",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But what of a gallant gent that’s dead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I truly mournful thinks.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He was a soldier chap⁠—leastways",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As ‘Colonel’ he was knew;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ he hailed from some’rs where they raise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A grass that’s heavenly blue.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“He sailed as a passenger aboard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The schooner Henery Jo.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "O wild the waves and galeses roared,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like taggers in a show!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“But he sat at table that calm an’ mild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if he never had let",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His sperit know that the waves was wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ everlastin’ wet!⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Jest set with a bottle afore his nose,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As was labeled ‘Total Eclipse’",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "(The bottle was) an’ he frequent rose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A glass o’ the same to his lips.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“An’ he says to me (for the steward slick",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the Henery Jo was I):",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "‘This sailor life’s the very old Nick⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the lakes it’s powerful dry!’",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I says: ‘Aye, aye, sir, it beats the Dutch.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I hopes you’ll outlast the trip.’",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But if I’d been him⁠—an’ I said as much⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’d ’a’ took a faster ship.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“His laughture, loud an’ long an’ free,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rang out o’er the tempest’s roar.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "‘You’re an elegant reasoner,’ says he,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "‘But it’s powerful dry ashore!’ ”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O mariner man, why pause and don",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A look of so deep concern?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Have another glass⁠—go on, go on,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For to know the worst I burn.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“One day he was leanin’ over the rail,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When his footing some way slipped,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ (this is the woefulest part o’ my tale),",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He was accidental unshipped!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“The empty boats was overboard hove,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As he swum in the Henery’s wake;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But ’fore we had ’bouted ship he had drove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From sight on the ragin’ lake!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“And so the poor gentleman was drowned⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now I’m apprised of the worst.”",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“What! him? ’Twas an hour afore he was found⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the yawl⁠—stone dead o’ thirst!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}