SAW ye the blazing star? The heavens looked down on freedom's war, And lit her torch on high! Bright on the dragon crest It tells that glory's wing shall rest, When warriors meet to die! Let earth's pale tyrants read despair And vengeance in its flame; Hail ye, my bards! the omen fair Of conquest and of fame, And swell the rushing mountain air With songs of Glyndwr's name. At the dead hour of night, Mark ye how each majestic height Burned in its awful beams? Red shone the eternal snows, And all the land, as bright it rose, Was full of glorious dreams! O eagles of the battle, rise! The hope of Gwynedd wakes! It is your banner in the skies Through each dark cloud which breaks, And mantles with triumphal dyes Your thousand hills and lakes! A sound is on the breeze, A murmur as of swelling seas! The Saxon on his way! Lo! spear and shield and lance, From Deva's waves with lightning glance, Reflected to the day! But who the torrent-wave compels A conqueror's chain to bear? Let those who wake the soul that dwells On our free winds beware! The greenest and the loveliest dells May be the lion's lair! Of us they told, the seers, And monarch bards of elder years, Who walked on earth as powers! And in their burning strains, A spell of might and mystery reigns, To guard our mountain towers! -- In Snowdon's caves a prophet lay: Before his gifted sight, The march of ages pasesd away With hero-footsteps bright, But proudest in that long array Was Glyndwr's path of light! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE QUESTION ANSWER'D by WILLIAM BLAKE A PRAYER TO THE WIND by THOMAS CAREW GOOD-BYE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: MARCH by EDMUND SPENSER SPANIARDS' GRAVES AT THE ISLES OF SHOALS by CELIA LEIGHTON THAXTER VERSES WRITTEN IN THE LEAVES OF AN IVORY POCKET-BOOK by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |