…did not appear in a story. Rather, it was the couplet that Robert E. Howard typed just before his suicide.
All fled, all done, so lift me on the pyre;
The feast is over and the lamps expire.
When it was clear that his mother was on her deathbed, he wrote these lines and then shot himself. Most S&S fans are probably familiar with the words and the circumstances.
This couplet sprang into my head yesterday, as I was (finally) reading For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones. There are a few lines that echo this somber phrase, and I made a note to myself to go back and find it. And now, of course, I can’t. Pretty sure it was in the second or third chapter.
I’ve never been a huge fan of poetry, but I always liked REH’s, simple as it is. The straightforward cadence and word choice feel natural.
Also: still not a fan of the new WordPress interface. It was difficult to position the lines above, and it will probably look like doo doo.
I have mixed feelings about REH’s couplet. It’s a wonderful couplet fit for a a righteous man about to face unjust execution, or some such. But I’ve never understood his suicide. I guess it can be put down to mental illness, if that has any meaning. The truth is that many people face the death of a loved one, and very few kill themselves from despair afterwards. Perhaps he had no friends to be with him at that time, and it made the difference. Just a good friend to stay with him for a while, may have been all he needed to get through.
Hey, David, thanks for the comment, and apologies for the late reply. I hear what you are saying and agree. There is no doubt he was strongly attached to his mother, with some even suggesting Oedipus Complex. I have my doubts as to that, but he loved her and for whatever reason, could not face going on without her. But you are probably right, a single close friend might have made all the difference.