Robert E. Howard to Emil Petaja, Dec 17, 1934

Dear Mr. Petaja:

Thank you very much for the splendid sonnet. I feel deeply honored that a poem of such fine merit should be dedicated to me. You seem to grasp the motif of my stories, the compelling idea-force behind them which is the only excuse for their creation, more completely than any one I have yet encountered. This fine sonnet reveals your understanding of the abstractions I have tried to embody in these tales.

In response to your request for an ms. copy, I am sure I can find something of the sort, when I rearrange my files, which are at the present in a chaotic state. In the meantime I am enclosing a so far unpublished bit of verse, "Cimmeria", for your notebook. Hope you like it.

Thanking you again for the splendid sonnet, I am,

Cordially,

Robert E. Howard