Below is a poem by Lilith Lorraine taken from her collection "Wine of Wonder" (The Book Craft, Dallas TX, 1952). As it's dedicated to CAS, who introduced* the collection (see beneath poem for a note), I figure it should be of interest. If it's already on the site somewhere, sorry for the duplication -- but I'm not finding this poem online, period. I typed it out myself, so forgive any typos.


The Cup Bearer
(To Clark Ashton Smith)
by Lilith Lorraine


The light of other worlds is in his eyes,
His voice is like a sunken temple chime,
And many a moon that sings before it dies
Has heard him in the catacombs of time

Such souls come only when the cycles close,
When the dark wine of ages mellowed long,
Blends terribly the tiger and the rose,
Seraph and satyr, savagery and song.

Such souls come only when the dreamer wakes
Alone beneath a decomposing sky,
Before the dream dissolves in crystal flakes
To hold new lamps for gods to travel by.

And just before the old dream turns to dust,
He holds again the dark, delirious grail,
The lethean wine of loveliness and lust,
Of tenderness and terror; should he fail

The dream would vanish and the wavering world
Shorn of its wonder, shaken to the core
Back to the "Never-has-been" would be hurled....
Sing with him softly, lest you sing no more.

---

Note: Smith's introduction to this book appears elsewhere on this site. Of interest is that the 'introduction' actually begins on the dust jacket flap and ends on the back of the jacket! If you have this book and not the dust jacket, you'll wonder where the hell this introduction went as it only lives on the jacket. There are also two much shorter 'introductions', one by Rog Phillips of Amazing Stories.

Splendid piece - and one I didn't know -
thanks

Yes, thank you for that.

A fine portrait of CAS.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A fine portrait of CAS.

Or rather... of Klarkash-Ton, the cosmic artist. I wouldn't know about CAS, the human being.

As an aside, for those who may be interested in reading more, August Derleth included a half-dozen of Lilith Lorraine's poems in his anthology Fire and Sleet and Candlelight. That anthology, I think, is a bit easier to find, and is more affordable, than his earlier Dark of the Moon. For an anthology that consists primarily of modern poetry, there is a surprising amount of good material in the former.

Of course, if others are aware of even more accessible volumes that contain Lorraine's poetry, then that would be worthwhile to know.

Wonderful! Thank you Roger!

Glad you guys enjoyed it, and made my typing it out a worthwhile effort. :)

Absolutely beautiful, a welcome poem indeed.