REHupa

noun

1. Any of several chiefly Mediterranean plants of the genera Asphodeline and Asphodelus in the lily family; spring-flowering perennial with grey-green leaves and pale pink-grey-white flowers. The tubers are edible. 2. In Greek poetry and mythology, these were the flowers of Hades and the dead and were planted around tombs. This ghostly grey plant was believed to dominate the fields of the land of the dead. It was regarded as the food of the dead. (Source: Homer). 3. Sacred to Persephone & Hekate (statues of these goddesses were adorned with asphodel on the island of Rhodes). 4. In early English and French poetry, the daffodil.

[origin: Latin asphodelus, from Greek asphodelos]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

I found an altar in a misty land
Where only dreamers’ feet have ever trod,
Where asphodels by ghostly winds were fanned
I found the altar of an ancient god.

Slim fluted marble pillars ringed the shrine,
The dim acanthus bloomed along the pave,
And close behind the sapphire altar, nine
Strange harps unseen a vibrant echo gave.

[from “Mad Meg Gill”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 173]

We’re down to one month to go until Robert E. Howard Days! On June 8th folks from all over the US and the world will converge on Cross Plains, Texas, where we’ll share in the fellowship of being fans of the works of the incomparable Robert E. Howard. 2012 marks the 80th birthday of REH’s most famous creation, Conan the Cimmerian, so come to Texas for Howard Days and make sure you have a slice of Conan’s birthday cake! I told you there would be cake!

The Robert E. Howard Museum will be shining under the Texas sun, open for all to explore and enjoy, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Project Pride organization in Cross Plains. Every year I get a special thrill just being in the same house where my favorite author lived and worked and it’s a special joy to read his poetry out loud next to room where it was created. If you haven’t experienced this, give yourself a treat!

Once again this year there will be all kinds of interesting panels about REH and Conan, but we’re also presenting a tribute to our dear departed friend and mentor, Glenn Lord. A narrated bus tour of Cross Plains is on tap, a special souvenir postal cancellation is available and the Pavilion will be open for a Swap Meet for REH items. We’ll do another poetry reading under the street lamp in the backyard, after we try something new: a Friday night (9 pm) panel presentation at the Ice House uptown: Fists at the Ice House. Bring your flashlights!

We can’t forget about the Celebration Banquet on Friday night (where we’ll also present the 3rd Annual Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards). A popular part of the Banquet is the Silent Auction – if you haven’t already sent your donated items for the Auction to Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443 – this is Indy asking you to please do so! Generous folks like y’all help keep Project Pride perking right along with upkeep on the Howard House, among other things.

The Cross Plains Library will host most of the Panels in their award-winning library – if you could see your way clear to make a small donation to them for their wonderful hospitality and generosity, your reward will be that great “pay-it-forward” feeling!

The Barbeque at Caddo Peak Ranch happens on Saturday night – nothing tastes better than brisket and beans under the Texas sky! Plus you can climb to the highest point in Callahan County and *almost* see Bob Howard’s house from there!

If you do plan on coming down, take the time to register by June 1st so the Project Pride folks can be sure they can accommodate everyone. Check the REH DAYS 2012 tab at the top of this page for a complete schedule and all the info you’ll need to make sure you have a great time celebrating Robert E. Howard. In your mind you can brandish those Bowies and blaze those pistolas for two of the best days you can have in June. And it’s only a month away!

Y’all come and we’ll see you there!

Baal worshippers

noun

1. a crowd of people of the lowest class; rabble; a disorderly crowd

[origin: 13th century; Middle English route crowd, from Anglo-French rute band, from Vulgar Latin rupta, from Latin, feminine of ruptus, past participle of rumpere to break]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

My name is Baal; I walked the world of yore
And men and women gave me worship then.
My imaged fanes rose high on many a shore—
My priests were wise with all the ages’ lore;
Before me bowed all ranks and tribes of men.
My silver image sat with jeweled eyes
Above the lesser gods that thronged about
The mighty hall. There kings would often come
And then the trumpets clamored to the skies,
The halls re-echoed to the clanging drum
And to the shouts of the adoring rout.

[from “Baal”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 153 and A Rhyme of Salem Town, p. 53]

adverb

1. archaic : at once. also: soon, presently; after a while or later

[origin: before 12th century; Middle English, from Old English on an, from on in + an one]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

Against the east a sombre spire loomed o’er a dusky, brooding wood;
Against the west the sunset’s fire lay like a fading smear of blood.
The stranger pushed through tangled boughs; the forest towered stark and grim,
Fit haunting place for fiends’ carouse, but silent in the dusk and dim.

Anon the stranger paused to hark; no wind among the branches beat
But bats came wheeling in the dark and serpents hissed beneath his feet.
Bleak stars blinked out, of leprous hue; the forest stretched its clutching arms;
A hag-lean moon swam up and threw gnarled shadows into monstrous forms.

[from “Destination”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 181; Singers in the Shadows, p. 52; and Robert E. Howard Selected Poems, p.302]

adjective

1. a dark gray to black dense to fine-grained igneous rock that consists of basic plagioclase, augite, and usually magnetite

[origin: ca. 1601; Latin basaltes, manuscript variant of basanites touchstone, from Greek basanitēs (lithos), from basanos touchstone, from Egyptian bḫnw]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

“Our prows have plowed the Baltic and passed those rocks basaltic
Which curve to form the narrow gates that lock the Middle Sea;
We plumbed that dark Afric river that feeds it forever,
And saw the Nilic waters wash the sands in the cat-god’s lea.

“But there are seas unparted, and there are coasts uncharted,
And o’er the waves a whisper shafts that we were wise to go,
For—a gloaming is striking the shrouds of we Vikings!
Scorn the loot! To ship! We seek our Fate in the sunset’s glow.”

[from “Viking’s Vision”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 55 and Robert E. Howard Selected Poems, p. 465]

Only seven weeks to go until Robert E. Howard Days 2012 in beautiful Cross Plains, Texas. There’s still plenty of time to send in your pre-registration and make plans to attend to best two days in Howard fandom. If you check the REH DAYS 2012 page (tab at the top), you’ll find a few revisions for your attendance pleasure. Here’s a partial list.

1. The Friday night Celebration Banquet has been moved to the Baptist Church Family Life Center, which is one block north of the Library. There’s three times as much space there, so Project Pride won’t be limited to a certain amount of seats. (But please pre-register so they know how many are coming!) Dinner is chicken-fried steak with all the fixin’s!

2. The Howard House and Museum will be open on Thursday June 7th from 2-4 pm. No docents will be on duty, but you may take a tour and stop in the Gift Shop! This will get you early access to the new REH Museum t-shirt, among other great REH gifts!

3. There WILL be a panel at 9:00 pm on Friday night after the Banquet/Silent Auction/REH Foundation Awards at the church. FISTS AT THE ICE HOUSE will be presented by REH boxing experts Mark Finn and Chris Gruber with assistance from Jeff Shanks. This will take place AT the old Ice House on Main Street (well, on the empty concrete slab behind it). Bring your flashlights. We’re trying something new this year – and yes, we have permission…

4. There will again be some extemporaneous REH (only) poetry reading under the street light in the back yard of the House on Friday night. We’re calling it REH Streetlamp Poetry.

5. PLEASE donate REH items to the Silent Auction. You can send them to: Project Pride, POB 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443, or bring them to the Howard House by 3 pm Friday afternoon during Howard Days.

Hope to see both familiar and new faces under the wonderful Texas sky in a few more weeks. It’s like a big family reunion of Howard fans, so y’all come.

Any questions: e-mail “Indy” Bill Cavalier at 2cavaliers@sbcglobal.net.

verb

1. think, believe or trust

[origin: Old English treow; related to Old Frisian triuwe, Old Saxon treuwa, Old High German triuwa]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

Ho, for a trail that is bloody and long!
And scattered with barren bones, I trow!
But a trail must end and a stake is strong,
And midnight crossroads there are enow!

[from “Trail’s End”; this is the complete poem as shown in The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 470 and A Rhyme of Salem Town, p. 8]

noun

1. Dip: to incline downward from the plane of the horizon; Veer: a change in course or direction

[origin: dip: before 12th century; Middle English dippen, from Old English dyppan; akin to Old High German tupfen to wash, Lithuanian dubus deep]
veer: ca. 1610; Middle English veren, of Low German or Dutch origin; akin to Middle Dutch vieren to slacken, Middle Low German vīren]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

The sun was brazen in the sky,
Like fire the sullen waves were red;
We watched the droning sea-gulls fly
About the lurching main-mast head.
Each swaying oar against the banks
Cadenced a steady, creaking strum.
Across the world in marching ranks
We watched the restless surges come.
From off the waves the hell-heat flowed,
The very sails seemed scorched and sere;
They sweated, screeched and fought, who rowed,
As on we plied with dip and veer.

[from “The Lost Galley”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 148; Singers in the Shadows, p. 45; and Robert E. Howard Selected Poems, p. 313]

noun

1. a crown or royal headband

[origin: ca. 13th century; Middle English diademe, from Anglo-French, from Latin diadema, from Greek diadema, from diadein to bind around, from dia- + dein to bind; akin to Sanskrit daman rope]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

Still in the west there burned a fading flame,
When I rose reeling in a field of red,
And searching for our warrior king I came
And found him dead upon a heap of dead.
Demon and man, they silent lay, and still;
With cloven skull, rent heart and torn breast.
And now the moon was rising on the hill,
And now the light was dying in the west.
Aye, I alone of all that mighty horde
Still held my life; into a rough rude ring
I bent with waning strength a broken sword,
A diadem to crown a warrior king.
And on his red brow set the bloody crown,
Then Life gave up the ghost as night came down.

[from “A Crown for a King”; to read the complete poem see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 243; Always Comes Evening, p. 108; and Robert E. Howard Selected Poems, p. 481]

noun

1. [var. daoine sidhe] The divine folk of Old Irish folklore. After the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians (Gaels), those members who decided to stay in Ireland formed the Daoine Sidhe. They live in hollow mounds, hence the name sidhe which literally means “people of the (fairy) mounds”. The Daoine Sidhe are fond of battles, hurling (a kind of field hockey) and are skilled chess players. They are small and may ride out to hunt, or stir up an eddy of dust, or engage in battles, or steal children, or prevent butter from forming in the churn

[origin: the most common names are, aos sí, aes sídhe, daoine sídhe (singular duine sídhe) and daoine sìth mean, literally, "people of peace"; modern Irish: sí; Scottish Gaelic: sìth; Old Irish síde, singular síd]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

The doine sidhe sang to our swords by night,
Their spells bewildered our ears—
The tevshi walked in the moon’s grey light
By the marge of the misty meres.

[from “Counterspells”; this is the complete poem as shown in The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 145]