Rare handwritten poem by H. P. Lovecraft entitled ‘Expectancy,’ one page, 6 x 9, no date, signed at the conclusion in fountain pen. The poem, written neatly on the reverse of a stationery sheet from Murphy’s Hotel in Richmond, Virginia, reads, in full:
“I cannot tell why some things hold for me
A sense of unplumbed marvels to befall,
Or of a rift in the horizon’s wall
Opening to worlds where only gods can be.
There is a breathless, vague expectancy,
As of vast ancient pomps I half-recall,
Or wild adventures, uncorporeal,
Ecstasy-fraught, & as a day-dream free.
It is in sunsets & strange city spires,
Old villages & woods & misty downs,
South winds, the sea, low hills, & lighted towns,
Old gardens, half-heard songs, & the moon’s fires.
But though its lure alone makes life worth living,
None gains or guesses what it hints at giving.”
In fine condition, with light creasing, and a small chip to the right edge. ‘Expectancy’ served as Sonnet 28 of the sequence of 36 that comprised Lovecraft's cosmic poetry collection Fungi from Yuggoth, which was written mostly between December 27, 1929, and January 4, 1930. The sequence was published in its entirety in the 1943 work Beyond the Wall of Sleep and, some 70 years later, in 2013’s The Ancient Track: The Complete Poetical Works of H. P. Lovecraft. A marvelous piece of original work from Lovecraft, whose poetical output is no less impressive than the yarns of cosmic horror for which he is most readily known.
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