{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-tables-turned",
 "title": "The Tables Turned",
 "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": 125,
 "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": {
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  "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": 16,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 47,
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 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Over the man the street car ran,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the driver did never grin.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“O killer of men, pray tell me when",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your laughter means to begin.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Ten years to a day I’ve observed you slay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I never have missed before",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Your jubilant peals as your crunching wheels",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were spattered with human gore.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Why is it, my boy, that you smother your joy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And why do you make no sign",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the merry mind that is dancing behind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A solemner face than mine?”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The driver replied: “I would laugh till I cried",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If I had bisected you;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But I’d like to explain, if I can for the pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis myself that I’ve cut in two.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}