The First and Only Weekly Online Fanzine Devoted to the Life and Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs |
Bob "Tarak" Woodley
presents
ERB in Verse:
Poem of Mars & The Ape Man
An ERBapa 63 Reprint
Poem of Mars
Well, they talk o' gin and beer, when you're
quartered way out here,
Or so Kipling
said and wrote of Gunga Din,
But is Mowgli though quite good, never in
the forest stood,
Half as tall as Burroughs' Tarzan's always
been,
Nor did he have any room, for a place like
vast Barsoom
In his poems or his stories, though they're
fine,
So I'll take my ERB, stories made for you
and me,
And I'll sit and read and dream and make them
mine.
Though I like the ape-man best, and he'll pass
most any test,
Still, I'll not forget my meeting with JC,
When I read Princess of Mars, I could
almost feel the stars,
Coming down and through these words, taking
me.
I'll recall always that cover, many times I've
turned if over,
With his sword and stance and flashy skirt
of red,
And the pulpish-clad princess, she was clearly
in distress,
And so beautiful, incomparable, it's said,
So I then began to read, and imagination's
need,
Spurred me on and pretty soon, I was so taken,
To that wondrous Martian place, far from Earth
and time and space,
And his words yet once again had left me shaken.
He had found his princess fair, in that place
oh way up there,
But surrounded by the Tharks, he had to fight,
For his princess and his honor, I thought
he'd soon be a goner,
But we knew that in the end he'd be all right.
Dejah spoke and left us breathless, and her
beauty it was deathless,
And he loved her, though he fumbled with her
heart,
But she smiled that little smile, and we knew
that in a while,
She'd be his and she would rather die than
part.
Still he let her then get lost, and we knew
what this would cost,
For Barsoom is full of wilderness and danger,
And he'd have to search and grope, and not
ever give up hope,
Though he'd come there as an enemy and stranger.
But he made some cherished friends, and he'd
hoped to make amends,
For whatever hurt he'd caused his princess
fair,
So he took up that damn sword, and pretty
soon he'd quickly gored,
More than one green chieftain who would take
his dare,
Though he certainly was brave, I recall
he fled that cave,
Pretty quickly when those sounds were back
there rustling,
But those qualms and fears were gone, and
we'd now see hero John,
Ever after whip those bad guys with his hustling.
He could jump and leap and whirl, when he'd
fight for his brave girl,
Fifty feet was nothing new for Captain Carter,
Though in matters of his love, he could surely
use a shove,
And we wondered if he'd ever get much smarter.
Well he rose up in the ranks, and Tars Tarkas
gave his thanks,
And he found a friend in Woola for his life,
But still Dejah did he miss, and he hadn't
felt her kiss,
And we wondered if she'd ever be his wife.
So he gathered hordes of allies and they made
ferocious sallies,
And Zodanga finally fell to his wild plan,
By his boldness she was saved and those dangers
that he'd braved,
She was every inch a Princess for her man.
Many were the days they'd share, till they
ran clean out of air,
And he then remembered seven little sounds,
So he took off, never fear; through the thinning
atmosphere,
But he ended up once more in Earthly bounds,
So this tale was at an end, but still messages
he'd send,
When he got back to Barsoom some future
day,
Then perhaps he'd meet some Gods, and I wouldn't
lay big odds,
That he won't prevail no matter what the fray.
Well, I'd now met ERB, Dejah and that brave
JC,
And I'd met my savage Tarzan and quick Bara,
But I'd not realized just yet, quite what
I was still to get,
For a few books later I would meet my Tara.
The Ape-Man
by
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Robert Alan Woodley
Edgar Allen Poe
Once upon a day so dreary, I was in a store,
so weary,
Fifteen years I was and pondering quaint and
curious books and lore,
Suddenly I saw a cover, a man and lion fighting
over
Life and Death and who knows what, but I was
changed forevermore.
I'd met a writer and a man whom I would love
forevermore,
Tarzan Triumphant; nothing more.
Ah, distinctly I remember, though it wasn't
bleak December,
Oh the blues and greens and tawny colors that
ACE cover wore!
Eagerly I bought that book, while something
deep inside me shook,
And somehow I would take a look at something
never seen before,
The waves of wonder now would wash upon imagination's
shore.
I took it home, to read some more.
And the savage man and certain pain when his
foes started hurtin'
Thrilled me, filled me with fantastic feelings
never felt before.
So that than, and feeling strong the beating
of my heart, and reeling,
More and more I kept on reading till the pages
were no more,
I was stunned and moved and knew that this
was what reading was for,
I'd met the ape-man. I'd want more.
Presently my need grew stronger, Invincible
would wait no longer,
Back I went and bought that second book from
my childhood drugstore,
Took it home and started reading, still I
haven't stopped the bleeding,
Krenkel and Frazetta drew me to the ape-man's
jungle lore,
I'd soon be captured by these books
and never leave forevermore,
ERB and blood and gore.
Deep into the stories peering, long I wondered,
hoping, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming, wondering if this author
ever wrote some more,
But the shelves had no more books no matter
what my eager looks,
And so I waited and I watched and hoped one
day I'd see find some more.
Nothing I had read had ever touched me like
this ape-man lore,
I'd only opened one small door.
Back into the store and turning round I'd hunt
with eyes so burning,
Soon again I saw another; Ballantine had published
more!
"Surely", said I "Surely that is something
I had only dreamed of,
Let me see then what the treat is, let me
ERB explore,
Let my heart be still a moment, and
this Burroughs man explore",
The ape-man had begun his roar.
Open then I flung those pages, when, with teenage
reader rages,
Tarzan of the Apes entered my life, and I
need say no more,
Not the least obeisance made he, not a minute
stopped or stayed he,
Rather all my life he's made me know that
he's forevermore,
Crouched upon a leafy branch his loneliness
seemed evermore,
A girl can open feeling's door.
Then the ebony shaft flying, soon my ape-man
would be crying,
Kala's grave he'd see and mother's love the
ape-man knew no more,
"Though her life is torn forever," he said,
" I will forgive, never,"
Ghastly, Grim and terrible, he prowled nightly
killing many more,
His lordly name did terror bring in blackest
nights, through any door,
He'd sworn to kill, forevermore.
Much I marveled this creation, what a reading
celebration;
Though it's jungle little meaning, little
relevancy bore,
For we cannot help agreeing that no living
human being,
Ever yet was blessed with powers, none could
like the ape-man soar,
Not a man, but savage beast, was sculpted
by ERB's score,
I saw that there were twenty-four!
But the ape-man, sitting lonely on that swaying
branch, spoke only,
To the beasts, as if his soul in that one
language did outpour,
Nothing English, then he uttered, the ape-man's
words were sometimes stuttered,
Till he scarcely more than muttered, "I have
no friends to go before,
On the morrow she will leave me, as my hopes
have flown before".
Man is who a woman's for.
Startled at the stillness taken he had seen
her and was shaken,
"Doubtless," he said" She will love another
and we'll be no more,"
Caught with some unworthy Clayton, is this
some grand plan of Satan?
Followed fast and followed faster, till the
jungle told the score,
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy
burden bore,
Loving her; she loved him more.
But the maiden still beguiling all his fancy
into smiling,
Straight she whirled a cushioned seat upon
the leafy forest floor,
Then upon the grasses sinking, she was of
the ape-man thinking,
"Man or Beast", she cried, "I'm yours!"
and knew she'd never love one more,
For that grim and savage man, her Forest God,
her heart did pour,
She would love him evermore.
Thus I sat engaged in guessing, for her love
was not expressing,
To her man, whose fiery eyes had burned into
her bosom's core,
This and more she sat divining, with her head
at ease reclining,
On those fragrant jungle grasses that the
sunlight gloated o'er,
But whose fragrant fearful grasses with the
sunlight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, she thought, the air grew denser,
perfumed from an unseen censer,
Swung by memories whose images the girl had
seen before,
"Beast!" She cried, "Thy God had lent thee---
by these angels He hath sent thee,
Respite ----- respite and save me from being
taken from this savage shore,
Quaff, oh Quaff this love of mine, I'll not
forget this savage shore",
Down her soft cheeks, tears did pour.
"Ape-man!" thought I, "This is evil! Ape-man,
still if Jungle Devil!
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed
there here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, in this jungle
land enchanted,
On your home by horror daunted, tell me truly,
I implore,
Is there, is there love for you and Jane on
this far distant shore?"
But D'Arnot needed ape-man lore,
"Ape-man!" said I, "This is evil! Ape-man still,
if Jungle Devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us---by that
God we both adore,
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, don't forsake
this lovely maiden,
Her love never, ever fading, for an angel
can't love more,
Clasp this rare and radiant maiden, keep her
with you on this shore!"
But the ape-man heard no more.
"But no words you'll soon be parting, Man or
Beast she'll soon be starting,
Get thee back into love's tempest and
the night's plutonium shore,
Leave no black plume as a token of the lie
they soul hath spoken,
Leave your loneliness unbroken---leave and
hasten to her door,
Take the stake from out your heart, and take
thy form fast to her door."
He said his father was no more.
And the ape-man, never fitting, still is sitting,
still is sitting,
On a leafy jungle branch, just above fresh
Bara's spoor,
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's
that is dreaming,
And the light of Goro streaming throws the
shadow on the floor,
And my soul from that shadow floating on the
forest floor,
Shall be lifted, nevermore.
Lands of Adventure is found at www.geocities.com/danestargems/ |
The List With No Rules is found at THB@yahoogroups.com |
ERBzine 0099 TARAK'S FARSIDE CHAT: Disney Tarzan Preview Review ERBzin-e 137Tarzan and the Forbidden City Review ERBzin-e 191 DD99: Thanks for the Memories by Tarak ERBzin-e 418 Tarak and the Jewels of Louisville ERBzin-e 419 Tarak and a Princess of Stories ERBzin-e 420 Tarzan of the Apes in All-Story pulp magazine ERBzin-e 316 Tarak Poetry in Motes & Quotes ERBzin-e 060: The First Time ERBzin-e 685 Tarzan of the Apes: A Personal Journey Through 24 Volumes ERBzin-e 708: Tarak's ERB in Verse ERBzin-e 709: Kipling and ERB ERBzin-e 710: The Mucker: An ERBapa Reprint ERBzin-e 707: Dum and Dummer 2002 |