Selected Poems

Introduction, by Frank Coffman Works Cited In The Introduction Notes On The Introduction Some Notes On Editorial Choices And Format Select Bibliography Proem I. ADVENTURE’S CALL & WANDERLUST Adventure Adventure, I have followed your beck The Adventurer’s Mistress The Call of the Sea The Day that I Die To the Contented Roads II. BARBARISM ASCENDANT Astarte’s Idol Stands Alone Black Chant Imperial The Dust Dance [Version 2] The Flood (To All Evangelists) Untamed Avatars A Warning A Word From the Outer Dark III. CELTIC CONNECTIONS, HERITAGE, ANCESTRY and the The Northern Thing Alien Black Harps in the Hills Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or Heritage [Version 1] Marching Song of Connacht One Blood Strain Retribution [The Song of Murtagh O’Brien] Song Before Clontarf The Song of the Last Briton To Harry the Oliad Men IV. COSMIC VISIONS Hymn of Hatred An Open Window Serpent The Wheel of Destiny V. HOWARD’S WORLD An America The Campus at Midnight A Dawn in Flanders The Drum Hate’s Dawn Little Brown Man of Nippon Match a toad with a far-winged hawk [Bob and Clyde] Night Mood Nights to Both of Us Known No Man’s Land Parody [Howard’s First Extant Poem] Private Magrath of the A. E. F Shall we remember, friend of the morning A Son of Spartacus A Stirring of Green Leaves Symbols There were three lads The Viking of the Sky VI. HUMAN BASENESS & NATURAL DEPRAVITY The Chant Demoniac Destiny A Hairy-Chested Idealist Sings Mark of the Beast The Men That Walk With Satan Never Beyond the Beast VII. LIGHT & RISQUÉ VERSES An American Epic Ancient English Balladel A Ballad of Beer The Bar by the Side of the Road The Kissing of Sal Snooboo The Maiden of Kercheezer Nectar The Passionate Typist A Poet’s Skull A sappe ther wos and that a crumbe manne VIII. LOVE, LUST, & SENSUALITY And so his boyhood wandered into youth The Bride of Cuchulain A Challenge to Bast The Day Breaks Over Simla Desire Egypt Flaming Marble The Gladiator and the Lady The Heart of the Sea’s Desire Keresa, Keresita Lesbia Love Love’s Young Dream The Myth Repentance The Robes of the Righteous A Roman Lady Scarlet and gold are the stars tonight The Sea Girl Thus in my mood I love you To a Nameless Woman IX. NIHILISM, FUTILITY, & DISILLUSIONMENT After the trumps are sounded Always Comes Evening And So I Sang A beggar, singing without I Praise My Nativity Life [Version 1] Longfellow Revisited A Man Men are toys on a godling’s string Monarchs Rebel souls from the falling dark X. POEMS ON POETRY ITSELF, POETS Inspiration & the Imagination The Adventurer Age Comes to Rabelais Another Hymn of Hate Autumn Echoes from an Anvil A Fable for Critics Man Am I Moonlight on a Skull Musings [Version 1] The Poets Recompense Romance Stay Not from Me Slumber A Sonnet of Good Cheer The Times, the times Stride on Apace and Fast To All Sophisticates To Lyle Saxon To Moderns To the Stylists Which Will Scarcely Be Understood XI. PEOPLE POEMS: VIGNETTES OF HUMANITY The Actor The Builders [as Version 1, first 3 quatrains only] The Builders [as Version 3, last 4 quatrains only] Castaway The Choir Girl Cowboy Dreamer Nun Emancipation [The tramp] The Follower Girl A Great Man Speaks Harvest Libertine The Peasant on the Euphrates Prude Sailor Toper XII. THE REALMS OF GOLD: EXOTIC PLACES REAL AND IMAGINED The Cats of Anubis Crete Deeps Desert Dawn Easter Island A Far Country The Gods of Easter Island The Gods of the Jungle Drums The High Blue Halls Hills of the North, Lavender Hills The Isle of Hy-Brasil Nocturne Ocean-Thoughts Rebellion Ships Twilight on Stonehenge Twilight Striding o’er the Mountain XIII. REFLECTIONS & INTROSPECTIONS On with the Play Red Thunder The Skull in the Clouds [Reuben’s Brethren] A Riding Song Universe Visions XIV. REINCARNATION The Guise of Youth Memories Memories of Alfred Remembrance Shadows from Yesterday To a Friend When Death Drops Her Veil White Thunder XV. THE ROAD TO YESTERDAY: POEMS BASED UPON HISTORY Attila Rides No More Babylon Babylon Has Fallen The Cells of the Coliseum Crusade The Cry Everlasting Dreaming on Downs A Dungeon Opens An Echo from the Iron Harp The Gates of Babylon Hadrian’s Wall The Harp of Alfred The Hills of Kandahar An Incident in the Muscovy-Turkish War The Master Drum Nisapur The Riders of Babylon The Road to Bliss The Road to Yesterday Shadows on the Road Song of the Don Cossacks Song of the Legions XVI. SHORT MEASURES OF JOY & THE AWESOME BEAUTY OF NATURE The ages stride on golden feet The Call of Pan Earthborn The Gods I Worshipped Hope Empty of Meaning Illusion A Moment This is a young world XVII. THE SOOTHING DUST: POEMS ON SUICIDE AND THE SUBJECT OF DEATH Ambition The Dance With Death Lines Written in the Realization that I Must Die Mingle my dust with the burning brand An Outworn Story Romany Road The Sands of Time Surrender [ Version 2] The Tempter The Years Are as a Knife XVIII. TRANSIENCE, MUTABILITY, CARPE DIEM & UBI SUNT Age [To the Old Men] Ballade Destiny Dreams of Nineveh Empire’s Destiny For what is a maid to the shout of kings Futility The Gates of Nineveh The Mountains of California The Night Winds O Babylon, Lost Babylon Only a Shadow on the Grass Path of the Strange Wanders Roar, Silver Trumpets Timur-Lang Where are your Knights, Don Othna XIX. BALLADS & OTHER NARRATIVES The Affair at the Tavern —And Bill, he looked at me and said A Legend of Faring Town Miser’s Gold The Open Window The Outcast Rebel The Baron and the Wench Swamp Murder Swords glimmered up the pass The Witch XX. POEMS FROM BIBLICAL & HEBREW SOURCES Flight Lilith Skulls Over Judah Two Men XXI. BOXING BALLADS: POEMS ABOUT PUGILISM All the crowd And Dempsey Climbed into the Ring and Sneered Aw, Come on and Fight The Champ The Cooling of Spike McRue Fables for Little Folks In the Ring Jack Dempsey John L. Sullivan Kid Lavigne is Dead They matched me up that night Time, the Victor A Tribute to the Sportsmanship of the Fan We are the duckers of crosses When you were a set-up and I was a ham XXII. THE DARK CONTINENT Victory When the Gods Were Kings The Zulu Lord Zululand XXIII. DARK FANTASY & HORROR Against the blood red moon a tower stands All Hallow’s Eve Arkham At the Bazaar Black Seas Dead Man’s Hate The Dead Slaver’s Tale Destination Devon Oak Drowned A Dull Sound as of Knocking Dweller in Dark Valley Far in the gloomy Northland The Fear That Follows Forbidden Magic The Ghost Kings The Ghost Ocean Ju-Ju Doom The Last Words He Heard The Lost Galley Moon Mockery The Moor Ghost One Who Comes at Eventide The Phantoms Gather Rhyme of the Three Slavers The Ride of Falume The Sea-Woman Shadow Thin Shadows Shadows of Dreams The Song of the Mad Minstrel A Song of the Werewolf Folk The Stranger The Symbol The Tavern Thus Spake Sven the Fool To a Woman Up, John Kane! XXIV. THE GRIM LAND: TALES OF TEXAS AND THE WEST The Alamo Ballad of Buckshot Roberts But the Hills Were Ancient Then The Feud Ghost Dancers The Grim Land John Ringold The Kiowa’s Tale The Lost San Saba Mine Modest Bill Old Bill Faro was a man of might San Jacinto [Version 1] San Jacinto [Version 2] The Sand-Hill’s Crest Sonora to Del Rio XXV. LONGER NARRATIVES: HOWARD AND EPIC SONG The Ballad of King Geraint Eric of Norway XXVI. PIRATE TALES A Buccaneer Speaks Buccaneer Treasure Drake Sings of Yesterday A Dying Pirate Speaks of Treasure Flint’s Passing A Pirate Remembers A Song of the Anchor Chain XXVII. POEMS RELEVANT TO THE PROSE FICTION Am-Ra the Ta-an The Bell of Morni The Black Stone The Blood of Belshazzar Cimmeria The Drums of Pictdom The Grey God Passes The Hour of the Dragon Kelly the Conjure-Man Kings of the Night The King and the Oak The Lion of Tiberias Men of the Shadows The One Black Stain The Phoenix on the Sword The Pool of the Black One Queen of the Black Coast Red Blades of Black Cathay The Return of Sir Richard Grenville The Road of Azrael Rune of the Ancient One The Scarlet Citadel Solomon Kane’s Homecoming Something About Eve Song of the Pict A Song of the Race The Sowers of the Thunder The Thing on the Roof The Zukala Poems: A Narrative Cycle ...The Tower of Zukala ...Zukala's Hour ...Zukala's Jest ...Zukala's Love Song XXVIII. VIKING TALES The Outgoing of Sigurd the Jerusalem-Farer The Return of the Sea-Farer The Rhyme of the Viking Path Singing Hemp The Song of Horsa’s Galley Viking’s Trail Viking’s Vision XXIX. POETIC SEQUENCES The Black Dawn Sequence ...1. Shadows ...2. Clouds ...3. Shrines ...4. The Iron Harp ...5. Invocation Sonnets Out of Bedlam ...1. The Soul-Eater ...2. The Last Hour ...3. The Singer in the Mist ...4. Haunting Columns ...5. The Dream and the Shadow Voices Out of the Night [The Iron Harp] ...1. Out of the Deep [The Voices Waken Memory] ...2. Babel ...3. Laughter in the Gulfs ...4. Moon Shame ...5. A Crown for a King XXX. PROSE POEMS Etchings in Ivory ...Proem (See page 1) ...Flaming Marble ...Skulls and Orchids ...Medallions in the Moon ...The Gods that Men Forgot ...Bloodstones and Ebony Index of Titles Index of First Lines "Form-Finder" (Index of the Poems by Form/Genre)