Robert E. Howard bibliography (poems P–Z) explained

A list of poems by Robert E. Howard (1906–1936), an American writer and poet in early 20th-century Texas. His love of poetry came from being read to by his mother at a young age. However, his attempts to make a living by poetry were unsuccessful and he is today most remembered for his short stories and fiction. Nevertheless, Howard wrote hundreds of poems; many were published within his lifetime and the others published after his 1936 suicide.

Key

Title	Lines	Opening line	Place of publication	Publication date	Alternative title(s)	Source text	Notes	References
The title of the poem		The text of the first known line in the poem	The book or magazine in which the poem was first published	The date on which the poem was first published	Any alternative titles by which the poem is also known	Links to online texts where available	Further information about the poem	Bibliographic sources
An alternative title for the poem					The main title of the poem

The lack of information in a column does not necessarily mean that the information does not exist, only that verifiable information is not currently available. For example, the lack of publication information does not necessarily mean that a poem has not been published to date, nor does the lack of a definite note about the public domain indicate that a poem is still under copyright.

This table may be sorted by different columns by clicking on the icon in the appropriate column. Clicking the icon again will alternate between ascending and descending order.

Additional notes:

Title/Alternative title: Some poems are known by multiple titles. Alternative titles are shown in the column of the same name. Every effort has been made to list full information at all entries for each title, to save the user time in scrolling. Occasionally, alternative titles appear consecutively, in which case the second entry will follow without additional information, shown in a darker gray on the table. In other cases, some poems were not titled by Howard or the original title has not survived. Some poems have been given tentative titles after Howard's death; this is indicated in the Notes column. Where multiple titles exist, they have been listed alphabetically by their various designations following the word "Untitled." Some pieces of poetry were used by Howard as epigraphs within his stories. listed these poems under the title of the short story rather than the title of the poem itself, so the poems are listed under those titles as well. With epigraphs, the first publication information given in this table is that of the poem's first printing separated from the story.

Lines: The number of lines in the poem.

Source text: Links given in the Source Text column are to copies of the poem in online libraries (where available). For ease of browsing the table, these links are preceded by a small icon. For example, for poems on Wikisource.

References: Bibliographic references are given in the final column of each row. The exception to this is the Notes column; as notes may come from diverse sources, or from a separate part of one of the main sources, each individual note is followed by its own reference.

Poetry

Title	Lines	Opening line	Place of publication	Publication date	Alternative title(s)	Source text	Notes	References
Palace of Bast, The	23	She sits all day on an ebon couch	Chacal #2	Spring 1977	Palace of Bast
Palm-trees are waving in the Gulf breeze	putatively 36 lines, when divided into couplets, but some lines and stanzas are written across the page like prose	Palm-trees are waving in the Gulf breeze	Austin, vol. 3, no. 1	May 1992	Untitled: Palm-trees are waving in the Gulf breeze		Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, September 7, 1924 ; Distributed as part of REHUPA #115
Parody	20	What is so vile as a February day?	Always Comes Evening (Underwood-Miller edition)	1977	February		The oldest known Howard poem, written January 28, 1921 at Cross Plains Highschool; Tentative title ; A parody of the famous passage that begins "And what is so rare as a day in June?" from James Russell Lowell's THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL ; An early work
The Parrot	20	When the king and his folk lay dead	A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard	ca. July 1934			Mnemonic reconstruction of the Alfred Noyes poem of the same name;Letter: H. P. Lovecraft; NOT INCLUDED IN COLLECTED POETRY	p. 769-770
Passing of the Elder Gods	4	The elder gods have fled	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("The elder gods have fled")		Tentative title
Passionate Typist, The	12	My love, to you this verse I pen	The Howard Review #5	Nov 1976
Path of the Strange Wanderers, The	27	They have broken the lamps and burst the camps	Shadows of Dreams	1989			Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. March 1929
Peasant on the Euphrates, The	10	He saw Old Sumer reel before the hoofs	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002
Perspective	4	All men look at Life and all look differently	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("All men look at life ...")		Tentative title
Peter Jackson			n/a	n/a			Lost	Thom, Herman & Woods, § C
Phantoms Gather, The	6	Up over the cromlech and down the rath	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("Up over the cromlech ...")		Tentative title
Phases of Life, The	5	Life is the same, yet of many phases	Unaussprechlichen Kulten #2	Jul 1992	Untitled ("Life is the same ...")		Tentative title ; French
Phoenix on the Sword, The	Two 4-line verses for a total of 8	3. Under the caverned pyramids great Set coils asleep / 4. When the world was young and men were weak, and the fiends of the night walked free	Always Comes Evening	1957	Chapters 2 and 5 are subtitled "The Road of Kings"—-see complete poem under that title)		Epigraph: The Phoenix on the Sword ; The fifth verse was published alone earlier in Crit-Q (1951)' Chapter 1 had no heading;
Pirate, The	8	I was born in Devonshire, close by Bristol Bay	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002			An early work
Pirate Remembers, A	22	From the scarlet shadows they come to me	The Grim Land and Others	1976
Plains of Gilban, The	12	Red swirls the dust	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("Red swirls the dust")		Tentative title
Pledge, A	28	Oe ever they spiked good beer with rum	The Howard Collector #14	Spring 1971
Poet	4	My soul is a blaze	The Cross Plainsman	Aug 2004			Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, June 23, 1926 ; PD
Poets, The	28	Out of the somber night the poets come	Weird Tales	Mar 1938		"The Poets"
Poet's Skull, A	56	My empty skull is full of dust	Shadows of Dreams	1989	Untitled: ("My empty skull is full of dust")		Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, undated
Pool of the Black One, The	6	Into the west, unknown of man	Lost Continents	1954			Epigraph: The Pool of the Black One
Prelude	4	I caught Joan alone upon her bed	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("I caught Joan alone upon her bed")		Tentative title
Pretty Polly	56	"Now take a part of your father's gold ..."	The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1: 1923-1929	Jun 2007		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq6RldgW7NQ	Mnemonic reconstruction of "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" "The Outlandish Knight"; Letter: Robert W. Gordon, April 9, 1926; NOT INCLUDED IN COLLECTED POETRY
Primal Urge, The	7	The wild geese fly south, carving the cold blue sky	Desire and Other Erotic Poems	1989			Tentative title
Prince and Beggar	18	I was a prince of China, lord of a million spears	Always Comes Evening	1957	Untitled ("I was a prince of China, lord of a million spears ...")		Originally untitled
Private Magrath of the A.E.F.	39	The night was as dark as a Bowery saloon	The Yellow Jacket	13 January 1927			One line was omitted in all printed versions ; First line originally ended "Harlem coon"; PD
Proem	148	Let no man read here who lives only in the world about him. ...	Etchings In Ivory (Chapbook)	1968	Untitled introduction to ETCHINGS IN IVORY
Prude	4	I dare not join my sisters in the street	The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval	Mar 2007			Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, June 23, 1926 ; PD
Quatrain of Beauty, A	4	Silky winds are sighing low	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	A Quattrain of Beauty
Queen of the Black Coast	23	"Believe green buds awaken in the spring ..."; "In that dead citadel of crumbling stone ..."; "Was it a dream the nighted lotus brought? ..."; "The shadows were black around him ..."; "Now we are done with roaming, evermore ...")	Always Comes Evening	1957	Song of Bêlit, The		Epigraph: Queen of the Black Coast
Rain No Mo' (Early Version)	2 4-line verses, plus a 4-line chorus repeated after each verse	Steal, steal, steal all around	The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1: 1923-1929	Jun 2007			Mnemonic reconstruction of an old folk song, possibly this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izug5iG-Ewo Letter: Robert W. Gordon, February 4, 1925; NOT INCLUDED IN COLLECTED POETRY
Ramona! Romona		4	Romona! Romona		The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval	Mar 2007	Untitled: Romona! Romona			Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. November–December 1928 ; PD; "Ramona" spelling probably a typo
Rattle of Drums	48	Rattle of drums	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Untitled ("Rattle of drums")		Tentative title
Rattlesnake Sings in the Grass, A	20	Oh, brother coiling in the acrid grass	n/a	n/a			Shares lines with Hymn of Hatred ; Never published ; PD
Rebel	108	I lived upon the earth of yore	Singers in the Shadows	1970	The Rebel
Rebel souls from the falling dark	8	Rebel souls from the falling dark	The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1: 1923-1929	Jun 2007	Untitled: Rebel souls from the falling dark		Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. November 1928 ; PD
Rebellion	14	The marble statues tossed against the sky	Poet's Scroll	Feb 1929			Pen name: Patrick Howard ; Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. November 1928 ; PD
Recompense	24	I have not heard lutes beckon me, nor the brazen bugles call	Weird Tales	Nov 1938
Red Blades of Black Cathay	12	Trumpets die in the loud parade	Always Comes Evening	1957			Epigraph: Red Blades of Black Cathay
"Red swirls the dust"	12	Red swirls the dust	A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems	2002	Plains of Gilban, The; Untitled ("Red swirls the dust")		Tentative title
Red Thunder	24	Thunder in the black skies, beating down the rain	JAPM: The Poetry Weekly	16 September 1929			PD
Remembrance	14	Eight thousand years ago a man I slew	Weird Tales	Apr 1928		"Remembrance"
Reminiscence			n/a	n/a			Lost	Thom, Herman & Woods, § C
Renunciation	59	By the crimson cliffs where the spray is blown	The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval	Mar 2007			Letter:to Tevis Clyde Smith, undated ; PD
Repentance	36	How is it that I am what I am	The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval	Mar 2007			Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. March 1928 ; PD
Retribution	22	The moon above the Kerry hills had risen scarce a span	Always Comes Evening	1957	Black Michael's Story; The Song of Murtagh O'Brien; Untitled ("The moon above the Kerry hills ...")	"Retribution"	Titled Retribution from an untitled draft, Howard's original title The Song of Murtagh O'Brien was found on a later copy
Return of Sir Richard Grenville, The	44	One slept beneath the branches dim	Red Shadows	1968	Untitled ("One slept beneath the branches dim")		Originally untitled ; A Solomon Kane poem
Return of the Sea-Farer, The	36	Thorfinn, Thorfinn, where have you been?	Weirdbook #13	1978	Untitled: ("Thorfinn, Thorfinn, where have you been?")
Reuben's Birthright	42	The Black Prince scowled above his lance, and wrath in his hot eyes lay	The Junto The Howard Collector #2	Aug 1929 Spring 1962	The Skull in the Clouds		Conflict:, The Howard Collector, 1962/, The Junto, 1929; PD	Poem cycles In addition to stand-alone poems, Howard also wrote cycles of poetry. Title Lines Opening line Place of publication Publication date Alternative title(s) Source text Notes References Black Dawn 105 A black moon nailed against a sullen dawn / The gods have said: "Life is a mystic shrine." / Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, Satan, Thor! / They sell brown men for gold in Zanzibar / Break down the world and mold it once again Black Dawn 1972 Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, c. March 1929 ; Each poem was untitled in the original letter, but the titles were listed in a later manuscript found in 1985 . Thom, Herman & Woods, § B 1. Shadows 2. Clouds 3. Shrines 4. The Iron Harp (2) 5. Invocation Echoing Shadows The Iron Harp (1), Voices of the Night Etchings In Ivory (1) 148 words + 1,001 words + 1,795 words + 331 words + 904 words + 579 words, for a total of 4,758 words Let no man read here who lives only in the world about him. / This is a dream that comes to me often. / Surely it was in decadent Athens—in marble-throned Athens of Sophocles in the Periclean Age. / There is a gate whose portals are of opal and ivory, and to this gate I went one silent twilight ... / The tang of winter is in the air and in the brain of me. / I knelt in a great cavern before an altar which sent up in everlasting spirals a slender serpent of white smoke. / Etchings In Ivory (Chapbook) 1968 A brief collection of "prose-poems." untitled introduction (148 words) 1. Flaming Marble(not to be confused with the verse poem of the same name) (1,001 words) 2. Skulls and Orchids (1,795 words) 3. Medallions in the Moon (331 words) 4. The Gods that Men Forget (904 words) 5. Bloodstones and Ebony (579 words) Iron Harp, The (1) 24 + 19 + 18 + 34 + 39 lines, for a total of 134 1. The blind black shadows reach inhuman arms / 2. Now in the gloom the pulsing drums repeat / 3. Ten million years beyond the sweep of Time / 4. The great black tower rose to split the stars / 5. A roar of battle thundered in the hills The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval Mar 2007 Voices of the Night; Echoing Shadows Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, undated ; ..."; Does NOT include the individual poem "The Iron Harp," which is, confusingly, the fourth poem in the BLACK DAWN cycle 1. Out of the Deep (a.k.a. The Voices Waken Memory) 2. Babel 3. Laughter in the Gulf 4. Moon Shame 5. A Crown for a King The Mysteries 4 + 2 + 8 lines for a total of 14 Baal, lord Baal, of the ebon throne / God of the gods, high, most high! See these rods Hear our cry! / Her face was white, the naked girl they sat Yesteryear #4 October 1989 Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. February 1929 1."The Invocation" 2. The Chorus of the Chant 3. The Sacrifice Sonnets Out of Bedlam Five 14-line sonnets for a total of 70 lines At birth a witch laid on me monstrous spells / I dreamed a stony idol striding came / I swam below the surface of a lake / The walls of Luxor broke the silver sand / Hinged in the brooding west a black sun hung 1. The Singer in the Mist 2. The Dream and the Shadow 3. The Soul-Eater 4. Haunting Columns 5. The Last Hour Three Sketches 24 + 34 + 30 for a total of 88 lines You stole niggers, John Brown / Your only excuse, Abe Lincoln / I hesitate to name your name The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2: 1930–1932 2007 Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. May 1932 1. John Brown 2. Abe Lincoln 3. "John Kelley" Voices of the Night Echoing Shadows; The Iron Harp (1) Notes Further explanations These publications/dates indicate where and when these headings were first published independently of the works to which they were originally attached. These tentative titles were used by Glenn Lord as a means to identify the poems where no original title was available. An early work is defined as one believed to have been written before 1924. Notes on publications The Tattler was the newspaper of Brownwood High School. The Cross Plains Review is the weekly newspaper for Cross Plains, Texas. The Yellow Jacket is the newspaper of Howard Payne College. The Daniel Baker Collegian was the newspaper of Daniel baker College of Brownwood; the college has since merged with Howard Payne College. The Junto was a literary travelogue circulated from member to member on a mailing list from 1928 to 1930. The Golden Caliph (1922 or 1923, one issue) and The Right Hook (1925, three issues) were amateur magazines created by Robert E. Howard and Tevis Clyde Smith as teenagers. The Progress was published by Cross Plains High School. Notes on short hand All or part of these poems are from or were included in a letter from Robert E. Howard to some recipient (the date is either the explicit date on the letter, an approximate dating of the letter where possible or else simply marked undated). e.g. "Letter: Tevis Clyde Smith, June 23, 1926" indicates that the poem is from a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith dated June 23, 1926. These poems are in the public domain in the United States and any country where the Rule of the Shorter Term applies. With these poems, two or more sources give different publications and dates of the first appearance. e.g. "Conflict:, The Howard Collector, 1962/, The Junto, 1929" indicates that states first publication as The Howard Collector (published in 1962), while states first publication as The Junto (published in 1929). Always listed with the earliest date first. Howard sometimes used the same title more than once, or the same title has been attached to untitled works by others. In these cases the poems have been numbered to distinguish them. e.g. "(2)" following the title indicates that this the second poem with the same name. These poems were published under a pen name. e.g. "Pen name: Patrick Howard" indicated that the poem was published under the pen name Patrick Howard. These poems were first published in a non-American publication. e.g. "French" indicates that it was first published in a French book or magazine. These poems are attributed to "Justin Geoffrey," a fictional poet Howard created for his fiction. These poems were originally used as epigraphs, heading chapter and whole stories, in works of prose fiction. This list shows where they were printed separately from the prose. e.g. "Epigraph: The Phoenix on the Sword" indicates that the poem was used as an opening in the short story The Phoenix on the Sword. These poems were part of a different work, usually prose fiction, but were not used to open the work or head chapters. This list shows where they were printed separately from the main work, if at all. e.g. "From: Men of the Shadows" indicates that this poem was originally included in, or part of, the short storyMen of the Shadows. Poems with these titles are on record but no known copy exists today. See also List of works by Robert E. Howard References Bibliographies <	--eg. Thom, Herman & Woods, § A --> Other sources External links