{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/to-day",
 "title": "To-Day",
 "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": 38,
 "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": [
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   "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": 34,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "I saw a man who knelt in prayer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And heard him say:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“I’ll lay my inmost spirit bare",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Lord, for to-morrow and its need",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I do not pray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Let me upon my neighbor feed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Let me my duty duly shirk",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And run away",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From any form or phase of work",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“From Thy commands exempted still,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let me obey",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The promptings of my private will",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Let me no word profane, no lie",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unthinking say",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "If anyone is standing by",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“My secret sins and vices grave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let none betray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The scoffer’s jeers I do not crave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“And if to-day my fortune all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should ebb away",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Help me on other men’s to fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“So, for to-morrow and its mite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I do not pray;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Just give me everything in sight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I cried: “Amen!” He rose and ran",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like oil away.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I said: “I’ve seen an honest man",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To-day.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}