Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CYWDD TO MORVYDD, AN ELEGIAC POEM, by DAFYDD AP GWILYM


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CYWDD TO MORVYDD, AN ELEGIAC POEM, by                 Poet Analysis    
First Line: For seven long years I had declared my passion
Last Line: Behind me, the folly of my flight.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dafydd Ab Gwilym; Dafyod Ap Gwilym; David Ap Gwilim


For seven long years I had declared my passion
To the slender and gentle maid: but in vain.
My tongue was eloquent in the expression of my love:
But till last night sorrow was the sole fruit of my cares.
Then I obtained the reward of all my disappointments
From her whose complexion is the image of the wave.
Then, favourably receiving my addresses,
She admitted me to all the happy mysteries of love --
To converse without restraint,
To kiss the dear fair-one with the jetty eyebrows,
And with my arm support her head;
Bright maid, with the snowy hue:
How charming the lovely burden!
While I was thus enjoying, with my inestimable jewel,
The most perfect felicity that love can bestow,
I prudently mentioned (it was an angry reflection!)
That the appointed day was approaching
When her jealous husband would return:
And thus the snowy maid replied:
We shall hear, ere it dawns, the song of the chanting bird,
The loud clear voice of the stately cock.

What if the jealous churl
Should come in before the dawn appears?

David, speak of a more agreeable subject;
Faint, alas! and gloomy are thy hopes.

My charmer, bright as the fields that glitter with the gossamer,
I perceive daylight through the crevice of the door.

It is the new moon, and the twinkling stars,
And the reflection of their beams upon the pillar.

No, my charmer, bright as the sun,
By all that's sacred, it has been day this hour.

Then, if thou art so inconstant,
Follow thy inclinations and depart.
I arose, and fled from all search,
With my garments in my hand, and fear in my breast:
I ran through the wood and brake,
From the face of day into the green thickets of the dale.
Looking forward, I beheld an absence longer than ages;
Behind me, the folly of my flight.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net