United States, (1893-1961)
The Thralls Of Circe Climb Parnassus
- Between the mountain meadow and the pines
- In one still wave the flowered azaleas clomb—
- A billow laced and crested with pale foam
- Unscattered by the balsam-bearing winds.
- High-rearing on their miry haunches, where
- Some grassy-bottomed tarn had sunk and died,
- A black hog and his mate stood side by side,
- Sniffing those elfin blossoms cool and fair.
- Straying in new-found freedom, hungry still,
- They had gone forth beneath the immaculate sky
- Through fir-set fells beyond their broken sty
- And lofty valleys, wild and aspen-grown…
- As those who haply seek for husks and swill
- Amid the flowers upon Parnassus blown.
© Clark Ashton Smith. Selected Poems. Arkham House, (1971).
About the Poet
Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was an American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories.
It is for these stories, and his literary friendship with H. P. Lovecraft from 1922 until Lovecraft’s death in 1937, that he is mostly remembered today. With Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, also a friend and correspondent, Smith remains one of the most famous contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales. [adapted from Wikipedia, DES-11/10]