Explore "One and One Are Two" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The trumpet sounded and the dead / Came forth from earth and ocean, / And Pickering arose and sped / Aloft with wobbling motion.
"What makes him fly lop-sided?" cried / A soul of the elected. / "One ear was wax," a rogue replied, / "And isn't resurrected."
Below him on the pitted plain, / By his abandoned hollow, / His hair and teeth tried all in vain / The rest of him to follow.
Saint Peter, seeing him ascend, / Came forward to the wicket, / And said: "My mutilated friend, / I'll thank you for your ticket."
"The "Call"," said Pickering, his hand / To reach the latch extended.
Said Peter, affable and bland: / "The free-list is suspended --
"What claim have you that's valid here?" / That ancient vilifier / Reflected; then, with look austere, / Replied: "I am a liar."
Said Peter: "That is simple, neat / And candid Anglo-Saxon, / But -- well, come in, and take a seat / Up there by Colonel Jackson."