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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


INSCRIPTION PROPOSED FOR THE VASE PRESENTED TO SIR WATKIN WILLIAMS WYN by REGINALD HEBER

First Line: ASK YE WHY AROUND ME TWINE
Last Line: "TO WORTHIER CHIEF THE HIRLAS BORE!"
Subject(s): HOMECOMING; VICTORY; WAR;

"ASK ye why around me twine
Tendrils of the Gascon vine?
Ask ye, why in martial pride,
Sculptured laurels deck my side,
Blended with that noble tree,
Badge of Albion's liberty?
Cambria me, for glory won
By the waves of broad Garonne,
Sends to greet her bravest son;
Proved beyond the western deep,
By rebel clans on Ulster's steep;
Proved, where first, on Gallia's plain,
The banish'd lily bloom'd again;
And proved where ancient bounty calls
The traveller to his father's halls!
Nor marvel, then, that round me twine
The oak, the laurel, and the vine:
For thus was Cambria wont to see
Her Hirlas-horn of victory:
Nor Cambria e'er, in days of yore,
To worthier chief the Hirlas bore!"



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