Some untitled poems by the master of dark heroic fantasy
Robert E Howard
(from left to right: R.E.Howard - Truett Vinson - Tevis Clyde Smith)
"A hundred years the great war raged..."
(From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, August 4, 1923)
A hundred years the great war raged.
White against yellow and brown.
And the West like a furious tiger uncaged,
Fell, but dragged the Orient down.
White against yellow and brown.
And the West like a furious tiger uncaged,
Fell, but dragged the Orient down.
"I am the Spirit of War!..."
(From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, January 30, 1925)
I am the Spirit of War!
My hands are red with gore.
They know my heel
Where the clash of steel
Matches the cannon's roar!
My hands are gory red
Ranks crumple beneath my stride
O'er vanquished heaps I tread,
On the wings of the wind I ride.
My hands are red with gore.
They know my heel
Where the clash of steel
Matches the cannon's roar!
My hands are gory red
Ranks crumple beneath my stride
O'er vanquished heaps I tread,
On the wings of the wind I ride.
"The east is red and I am dead..."
( From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. January 1928)
The east is red and I am dead, stark on a silent host
The day breaks and the kite wakes and laughter thrills my ghost.
The day breaks and the kite wakes and laughter thrills my ghost.
"Early in the morning I gazed at the eastern skies..."
( From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, June 23, 1926)
Early in the morning I gazed at the eastern skies
Reddening to rose from their first gray of steel.
Glowering in the sun-rise,’mid the golden sun-rise
Dark against the sun-rise loomed the grim Bastille.
Reddening to rose from their first gray of steel.
Glowering in the sun-rise,’mid the golden sun-rise
Dark against the sun-rise loomed the grim Bastille.
"Moonlight and shadows barred the land..."
(there is no date for this poem)
"Moonlight and shadows barred the land;
Night breathed like some great living thing.
The Seeker rested chin in hand
And heard the night wind's whispering.
He heard like songs of vanished men
The waving branches answer then.
"Lords of the seas of silence, old as the word of God,
We are the ancient people, haters of chain and rod.""
Night breathed like some great living thing.
The Seeker rested chin in hand
And heard the night wind's whispering.
He heard like songs of vanished men
The waving branches answer then.
"Lords of the seas of silence, old as the word of God,
We are the ancient people, haters of chain and rod.""
"Scarlet and gold are the stars tonight..."
(From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, November 1928)
Scarlet and gold are the stars tonight,
The river runs silver below the bridge—
But the hour shall come when the dawn grows white
Over the eastern ridge.
Your face is a dim white flower of night,
In your arms unheeded the hours fall—
But the dawn makes hearts grow strange and light,
And the far lands call.
The river runs silver below the bridge—
But the hour shall come when the dawn grows white
Over the eastern ridge.
Your face is a dim white flower of night,
In your arms unheeded the hours fall—
But the dawn makes hearts grow strange and light,
And the far lands call.
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