{
 "id": "mary-weston-fordham/the-pen",
 "title": "The Pen",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Mary Weston Fordham",
 "poet_slug": "mary-weston-fordham",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Magnolia Leaves",
 "book_slug": "magnolia-leaves",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 31,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1897,
  "venue": "Magnolia Leaves (1897)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/magnolialeavespo00ford"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/mary-weston-fordham_magnolia-leaves",
  "file": "magnolia-leaves.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/mary-weston-fordham-magnolia-leaves-full-text-1897-preface-by-booker-t-washington",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006775637"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Mightier than the sword thou art,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou can’st pierce like venomed dart,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Time and space count naught with thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leagues of land or leagues of sea.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thou can’st waves of passion calm,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Griefs assuage like Gilead’s balm,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bring sweet pleasure to the eye,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Give sweet gladness for the sigh.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When thy little point is prest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Oft it wounds some gentle breast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Filling chalice to the brim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Darkening life with sorrows grim.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Learnéd sage in days gone by,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Scanned thee with prophetic eye,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Said to myriads then unborn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thou would’st rule on many a throne.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Swords may stab with savage ire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Glistening out like rays of fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They can ne’er thy power attain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’er the sea or o’er the main.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Mightier than the sword art thou,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lo! on many a regal brow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Furrows which thy point has wrought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Troubles which thy work has brought.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Mightier than the sword art thou,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "List! a maid records her vow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That so long as life shall last,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ne’er a doubt shall love o’ercast.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Naught of bliss or naught of woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But thou can’st on man bestow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With thy tiny pointed prow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mightier than the sword art thou.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}