Jump to content

I tell you this, my friend ...

From Wikisource
I tell you this, my friend ...
by Robert E. Howard

From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, August 6, 1925; titled with the first line in COLLECTED POETRY

1894049I tell you this, my friend ...Robert E. Howard


I tell you this, my friend,

Blasphemy lies amid expressed belief,

That differs with the orthodox opinion.

If I have a mind

And use it for myself nor lick the boots

Of other, wiser maybe, men,

I blaspheme in their eyes. ’Tis not

That I fling mud on their belief,

But simply that I disagree with them.

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.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse