Explore "Lucifer of the Torch" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
O Reverend Ravlin, once with sounding lung / You shook the bloody banner of your tongue, / Urged all the fiery boycotters afield / And swore you'd rather follow them than yield, / Alas, how brief the time, how great the change! -- / Your dogs of war are ailing all of mange; / The loose leash dangles from your finger-tips, / But the loud "havoc" dies upon your lips.
No spirit animates your feeble clay -- / You'd rather yield than even run away.