# Match a toad with a far-winged hawk...

Sent in an undated letter to Howard's friend Tevis Clyde Smith. First published in The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval, 2007. Ballad in tetrameter couplets.
Match a toad with a far-winged hawk, A scarlet rose with a thistle stalk; A stagnant pond with the white sea-tide— You match the friendship of Bob and Clyde. Clyde was a plucker of gems divine— Bob was half a poet, half devil-swine. One of them mounted the gods' own peak, Out of the world's vile muck and reek, Up from the world-path's ruck and slime, Climbed on a ladder of godlike rhyme.— One of them made his bid for fame, Scorched his wing at the Muses' flame, Warped his soul like a brooding devil Found at last, and kept to, his level. A friendship strange—yet it lasted on Till their lives had faded to dusk from dawn. Friendship of a falcon for a mugger— Gods' own poet and third-rate slugger. Lived their lives, friend unto friend— Each in his own way met his end. One of them passed like a Median king— One of them died in a boxing ring. One of them passed on a distant shore Where the breakers answered the sea-wind's roar. High on the crags he stood at bay, Laughed like a god o'er the din of the fray; Crimson the cliffs and red his sword, One man facing a blood-crazed horde; Man after man fell to his blade, Laughed as he faced them, unafraid. They swarmed like demons; what did he care? Beauty and glory and pride were there; Crag and mountain, ocean and sky, Glorying to see a strong man die. Laughed on the crags like a white limbed god, For he knew the ways that the godlings trod— He had scaled all peaks of glory. Last With a snatch of song on his lips he passed. One heard the tumult of throngs outbreak As he writhed on the matt like a wounded snake, Striving to get his legs beneath— Red oaths ebbed through his broken teeth— Above him the ring-light's garishblaze, Sordid faces leered through the haze, Foreign voices venting foul spleen, Scents of unwashed forms obscene— Shouts that flickered the ring-light's shine "Stand up and fight, you yellow swine!" Then the darkness loomed like a mighty tide And he gasped out a crimson curse and died. Thus they lived their lives friend unto friend, And each in his own way met his end. Match a toad with a far-winged hawk, A crimson rose with a thistle stalk; A stagnant pond with the ocean's tide— You match the friendship of Bob and Clyde. Friend unto friend, they lived their days, Friend unto friend they walked their ways.
This work is from the United States and in the public domain because it was not legally published with the permission of the copyright holder before January 1, 2003 and the author died 88 years ago. This is a posthumous work and its copyright in certain countries and areas may depend on years since posthumous publication, rather than years since the author's death. Translations or editions published later may be copyrighted.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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