The Outgoing of Robert
The Far-Lands Farer

for and “after” REH
transposed and adapted from a poem by Howard.

The fires blazed in my teeming brain,
But no reason now to stay —-
And the bitter Night was falling,
Though it was a bright, hot day.
My thoughts roamed far away.
“How can I stay in this Hollow Hall
While my Muses show me clear
The whispering winds drawn by my Soul
And the grey waves writ on my Skald’s Scroll –
Where the gulls wheel and the whales roll,
The Abyss roars loud and near.”
“Man the sweeps and bend the sail —-
We need no oars today,
For my ship is driven before Life’s gale
And that Land I’ve imaged in many a Tale
Is calling, calling! I shall not fail –
Whither after, I cannot say.”
I could not bide in that Narrow Hall
Where the Great Fires teased the Glooms —-
For the winds were walking — and called to me!
And I had to follow; I had to see,
Seeking, beyond that Nameless Sea,
The Dooms beyond the Dooms.

By Frank Coffman.

Over at the Official Robert E. Howard Forum, professor, poetry buff (and REHupan) Frank Coffman informed us of his next endeavours.

Having completed a volume of his own poetry in tribute to REH, Coffman Street, and now that the long-overdue book The Selected Poems of  Robert E. Howard is released, our prolific professor has begun the composition of two other volumes on the verses penned by the Bard of Cross Plains, titled respectively The Sonnets of Robert Ervin Howard and A Soul of Fire: Essays on the Poetry of Robert E. Howard.

Frank reserves more goodness for fans of REH’s poetry in the future; he is putting the finishing touches on his essay Bards Before Bob: Howard’s Poetic Inspirations and Influences right now. In addition, he is also working on the stylometrics of Howard’s Conan stories.

For those interested in Robert E. Howard’s poetry and who are curious about Mr. Coffman’s work, I suggest paying a visit to REH-eapa, where they will find several of Frank’s excellent essays.