Happy Birthday, Frank Herbert

Happy birthday to the late, great Frank Herbert (1920-1986), science fiction author and father of the incomparable Dune series.

In his honor, two of his more Halloween-friendly poems from Songs of Muad'dib: The Poetry of Frank Herbert.


You have loved Caladan
And lamented its lost host--
But pain discovers
New lovers cannot erase
Those forever ghost.

"Refrain from the Habbanya Lament," Frank Herbert


Nature's beauteous form
Contains a lovely essence
Called by some--decay.
By this lovely presence
New life finds its way.
Tears shed silently
Are but water of the soul:
They bring new life
To the pain of being--
A separation from that seeing
Which death makes whole.

"Zensunni Theme," Frank Herbert