Weather Poem by Ambrose Bierce

Weather

Rating: 3.1


Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be--
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldome paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he'd preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote--
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
'Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow.'

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Stephen W 11 July 2014

The poem is about the notorious unreliability of weather forecasting, and the forecasters refusal to admit it, across generations of soliciting huge amounts of government money. Now they have satellites and vast computers they are much better than they used to be, but for a century they forecast utter tosh, at vast expense to the public.

4 5 Reply
Joseph Poewhit 11 July 2013

Usually never right -weather-people

1 4 Reply

Help Claudia, the dark one keeps deleting the end of my comment, posting separately again. The deletion of Claudia’s comment raises the question, do readers have the right to comment regardless of whether they like a poem or not? And whether other readers agree or disagree? My weather forecast on this one is most reader want to see both honest positive and negative comments on quality, because it makes reading comments more interesting. Any bets on how this comment weather’s the storm?

4 1 Reply
Captain Cur 12 July 2012

What a fair weather poem, cloudy with a chance of brilliance. Great, great write! Is it safe to set sail today?

3 1 Reply
Carlos Echeverria 11 July 2012

Ron Burgundy! Will Ferrell's voice reading this poem and if you don't laugh...

4 0 Reply
Utkarsh Chandel 05 September 2024

👍👍

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 04 September 2024

CONGRATS being chosen by Poem Hunter and Team as The Classic Poem Of The Day! Once again TOP Marks and thank you for sharing

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Sylvia Frances Chan 04 September 2024

TWO: and the forecasters themselves. The theme revolves around the unreliability of weather forecasts and the futility of trying to predict nature's whims

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Sylvia Frances Chan 04 September 2024

ONE: This poem is a satirical take on the unpredictability and often frustrating nature of weather forecasting. Bierce humorously criticizes the inaccuracies of weather predictions

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 04 September 2024

TWO: for his false predictions, highlighting the absurdity and unreliability of weather forecasts

0 0 Reply
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Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Bierce

Horse Cave Creek, Ohio
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