The Road of Kings
about to pack up my computer, but before I do, I thought I might post this poem.
The Road of Kings
When I was a fighting man, the kettle drums
they beat,
The people scattered gold-dust before my horse's
feet;
But now I am a great king, the people hound
my track
With posion in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.
********************************************
What do I know of cultured ways, the
gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the
open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail
when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs-I was a man before I
was a king.
********************************************
Gleaming shell of an outworn lie; fable of Right
divine-
You gained you crowns by heritage, but Blood
was the price of mine.
The throne that I won by blood and sweat, by
Crom, I will not sell
For promise of valleys filled with gold, or threat
of the Halls of Hell!
-Robert E. Howard
The Road of Kings
When I was a fighting man, the kettle drums
they beat,
The people scattered gold-dust before my horse's
feet;
But now I am a great king, the people hound
my track
With posion in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.
********************************************
What do I know of cultured ways, the
gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the
open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail
when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs-I was a man before I
was a king.
********************************************
Gleaming shell of an outworn lie; fable of Right
divine-
You gained you crowns by heritage, but Blood
was the price of mine.
The throne that I won by blood and sweat, by
Crom, I will not sell
For promise of valleys filled with gold, or threat
of the Halls of Hell!
-Robert E. Howard