Romance (Howard)

I am king of all the Ages I am ruler of the stars I am master of Time's pages And I mock at chain and bars. Now, as when I sailed the world Ere the galley's sails were furled And the barnacles had crusted on their spars.

I am strife, I am Life, I am mistress, I am wife! I am wilder than the sea wind, I am fiercer than the fire! I am tale and song and fable, I am Akkad, I am Babel, I am Calno, I am Carthage, I am Tyre!

For I walked the streets of Gaza when the world was wild and young, And I reveled in Carchemish when the golden minstrels sung; All the world-road was my path, as I sang the songs of Gath Or trod the streets of Nineveh where harlots roses flung.

I swam the wide Euphrates where it wanders through the plain And I saw the dawn come flaming over Tyre. I walked the roads of Ammon when the hills were veiled in rain, And I watched the stars anon from the walls of Askalon And I rose the plains of Palestine beneath the dawning's fire When the leaves upon the trees danced and fluttered in the breeze And a slim girl of Juda went singing to a lyre.