{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-sunset-gun",
 "title": "The Sunset Gun",
 "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": 25,
 "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": 28,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Off Santa Cruz the western wave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was crimson as with blood:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sun was sinking to his grave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath that angry flood.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sir Walter Turnbull, brave and stout,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then shouted, “Ho! lads; run⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The powder and the wad bring out",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To fire the sunset gun.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“That punctual orb did ne’er omit",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To keep, by land or sea,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Its every engagement; it",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shall never wait for me.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Behold the black-mouthed cannon stand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ready with charge and prime,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The lanyard in the gunner’s hand.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sir Walter waits the time.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The glowing orb sinks in the sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And clouds of steam aspire,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Then fade, and the horizon’s free.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sir Walter thunders: “Fire!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The gunner pulls⁠—the lanyard parts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not a sound ensues.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The beating of ten thousand hearts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was heard at Santa Cruz!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Off Santa Cruz the western wave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was crimson as with blood;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sun, with visage stern and grave,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came back from out the flood.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}