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‹Better GutenbergShapes of ClayA “Mute Inglorious Milton” · 57 of 212Contents›

Shapes of Clay

by Ambrose Bierce

57 of 212 · Contents · Download EPUB

A “Mute Inglorious Milton.”

“O, I’m the Unaverage Man,
  But you never have heard of me,
For my brother, the Average Man, outran
  My fame with rapiditee,
  And I’m sunk in Oblivion’s sea,
But my bully big brother the world can span
  With his wide notorietee.
I do everything that I can
  To make ’em attend to me,
But the papers ignore the Unaverage Man
  With a weird uniformitee.”

So sang with a dolorous note
  A voice that I heard from the beach;
On the sable waters it seemed to float
  Like a mortal part of speech.
The sea was Oblivion’s sea,
  And I cried as I plunged to swim:
“The Unaverage Man shall reside with me.”
  But he didn’t—I stayed with him!

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