by Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?)
Consolation
Language: English
Little's the good to sit and grieve Because the serpent tempted Eve. Better to wipe your eyes and take A club and go out and kill a snake. What do you gain by cursing Nick For playing her such a scurvy trick? Better go out and some villain find Who serves the devil, and beat him blind. But if you prefer, as I suspect, To philosophize, why, then, reflect: If the cunning rascal upon the limb Hadn't tempted her she'd have tempted him.
G. Bachlund sets stanzas 1, 3
Text Authorship:
- by Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?), "Consolation", appears in Shapes of Clay, first published 1903 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Consolation", 1996, stanzas 1,3 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 83