# XII explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A brief reflection on the difficulty of finding a needle in a haystack, noting that the rarity of needles in haystacks is the true reason for the challenge.

## Key lines

> Everybody professes to know that it would be difficult to find a needle in a haystack, but very few reflect that this is because haystacks seldom contain needles.

People commonly acknowledge the difficulty of finding a needle in a haystack, but rarely consider that the real reason is that needles are rarely found in haystacks.

_The narrator offers a logical twist on a common saying._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/xii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters