Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF DAVYDD THE BARD, by ARTHUR GLYN PRYS-JONES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF DAVYDD THE BARD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My prince has fled to ireland
Last Line: Who swing from the gallows-tree.
Subject(s): Wales; War; Welshmen; Welshwomen


I

MY Prince has fled to Ireland
Where no man knows his name,
And the tide comes red to the Towy
Where Dynevor's a flame ...
And Hugh the Harper's hands are cold
Because the Normans came.

II

They came down by Kidwelly
And took Carmarthen town;
They brought the fat-faced Flemings
And a bishop in scarlet gown ...
And they builded a stark gallows-tree
To keep the kinsmen down.

III

But soon across the midnight
Shall thrill the curlew's call ...
And then God help the Norman
And the oxen in his stall—
For the sword of the men of Towy
Shall smite them to the wall.

IV

And the ghost of Hugh the Harper
Will stalk through marsh and mire,
Roaring the ancient battle-songs
Upon his broken lyre,
And the kindled wrath of Rhys will sweep
Like a consuming fire ...

V

North to the blazing Beacons
And west to the sounding sea,
Till the tyrant's yoke be broken down
And the trembling folk are free
From the bitter scourge of the stranger lords
Who swing from the gallows-tree.





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