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The Dust Dance ("For I, with the shape of my kin...")

Robert E. Howard

First published 1965
Type Poem

Sometimes designated as version 1 of the 3 Howard poems with this name.
This poem has four parts of 24, 12, 16, and 20 lines.
The last 4 lines of the second part are virtually identical to the first 4 lines of Howard's poem "The Song of Horsa's Galley"; the last 4 lines of the poem are virtually identical to the first 4 lines of Howard's poem "The Road to Hell".
Lines 1-3, 5-8, 13-16 and 9-12 are identical to lines 9-12, 29-32, 45-48 and 49-52, respectively, of version 2 ("The sin and jest of the times am I...").
First published in The Howard Collector # 7, Winter 1965.
Lines 21-24 appeared in a Howard letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. March 1928 ("Salaam: / Glad you're writing these days..."). These lines are part of version 3 of Howard's poems of this name.
Parts of this poem appear in The Dark Barbarian, ed. Don Herron (lines 9-12 on p. 40); The Book of Madness: Whispers Within, Chaos Without by Bill Bridges, Steven Brown, Sam Inabinet, Kathleen Ryan & Phil Brucato (lines 69-72, p. 21); and Riverside Quarterly, June 1966. ed. Leland Sapiro (lines 5-20).

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1965 Cover The Howard Collector, #7 Winter 1965 Glenn Lord FANZINE 14
1972 Cover Echoes from an Iron Harp Donald M. Grant Collection 25
February 1976 Cover The Book of Robert E. Howard Zebra Books / Kensington Publishing Corp. Collection 161
February 1980 Cover The Book of Robert E. Howard Berkley Books Collection 107
January 2009 Cover The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press Collection 133
April 2009 Cover The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press Collection 133
August 2009 Cover The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press Collection 133
November 2009 Cover Robert E. Howard: Selected Poems Frank Coffman Collection 13
November 2009 Cover Robert E. Howard: Selected Poems Frank Coffman Collection 13