Explore "Fate" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Alas, alas, for the tourist's guide! -- / He turned from the beaten trail aside, / Wandered bewildered, lay down and died.
O grim is the Irony of Fate: / It switches the man of low estate / And loosens the dogs upon the great.
It lights the fireman to roast the cook; / The fisherman squirms upon the hook, / And the flirt is slain with a tender look.
The undertaker it overtakes; / It saddles the cavalier, and makes / The haughtiest butcher into steaks.
Assist me, gods, to balk the decree! / Nothing I'll do and nothing I'll be, / In order that nothing be done to me.