On the Canyon-Side

Read "On the Canyon-Side" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/408/on-the-canyon-side

This poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) was not included in his 1925 collection Sandalwood, but is thematically related to the many similar poems of love and eroticism that appeared in those pages.

While CAS could turn out impressive work in this vein, "On the Canyon-Side" is less impressive, not because it's a terrible poem, but because it's simply not up to CAS' usual standard of poetic excellence.

Perhaps more to the point, it seems that CAS simply was not inspired enough by the subject matter of this poem to invest much of his creative spirit into it.  I can't help but wonder if this poem is some sort of "fan service", wherein CAS supplied his lady-friends in his hometown of Auburn, California with romantic verses as part of the courtship process.