Social Commentaries

The Debtor Abroad

by Ambrose Bierce 1842–c. 1914

From Shapes of Clay (1903)

Social Commentaries

Grief for an absent lover, husband, friend,
Is barely felt before it comes to end:
A score of early consolations serve
To modify its mouth's dejected curve.
But woes of creditors when debtors flee
Forever swell the separating sea.
When standing on an alien shore you mark
The steady course of some intrepid bark,
How sweet to think a tear for you abides,
Not all unuseful, in the wave she rides!--
That sighs for you commingle in the gale
Beneficently bellying her sail!

MLA

Bierce, Ambrose. “The Debtor Abroad.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bierce/263/.

Chicago

Bierce, Ambrose. “The Debtor Abroad.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bierce/263/.

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