Rebel souls from the falling dark...

by Robert Ervin Howard

Rebel souls from the falling dark,
   What are the crowns you gain?
The quenching night of a dungeon stark
   And the brine of the rusty chain.
The taunt and the tang of the bitter blood,
   And the grim of the grisly bars,
The friar's chant and the hangman's hood—
   And a star amid the stars!