AIR -- @3The War-song of the Men of Glamorgan@1. I. RED glows the forge in Striguil's bounds, And hammers din, and anvil sounds, And armorers, with iron toil, Barb many a steed for battle's broil. Foul fall the hand which bends the steel Around the courser's thundering heel, That e'er shall dint a sable wound On fair Glamorgan's velvet ground! II. From Chepstow's towers, ere dawn of morn, Was heard afar the bugle-horn; And forth in banded pomp and pride, Stout Clare and fiery Neville ride. They swore their banners broad should gleam, In crimson light, on Rymny's stream; They vowed, Caerphili's sod should feel The Norman charger's spurning heel. III. And sooth they swore -- the sun arose, And Rymny's wave with crimson glows; For Clare's red banner, floating wide, Rolled down the stream to Severn's tide! And sooth they vowed -- the trampled green Showed where hot Neville's charge had been: In every sable hoof-tramp stood A Norman horseman's curdling blood! IV. Old Chepstow's brides may curse the toil, That armed stout Clare for Cambrian broil; Their orphans long the art may rue, For Neville's war-horse forged the shoe. No more the stamp of armed steed Shall dint Glamorgan's velvet mead; Nor trace be there, in early spring, Save of the Fairies' emerald ring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HONEY DRIPPER by CLARENCE MAJOR THE BIGLOW PAPERS. 2D SERIES. THE COURTIN' by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE TARRY BUCCANEER by JOHN MASEFIELD STARTING FROM PAUMANOK by WALT WHITMAN THE HAPPY WARRIOR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH PHAENOMENA: WHEN JUSTICE DWELT ON EARTH by ARATUS |