Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FOR AN EASTER REMEMBRANCE (TO MEMORY OF HEDD WYN & GWILYYM WILLIAMS), by ARTHUR GLYN PRYS-JONES Poet's Biography First Line: These are the dead who caught thy word unspoken Last Line: To the glory of the heritage they kept within the night. Subject(s): Easter; Holidays; Memory; Wales; The Resurrection; Welshmen; Welshwomen | ||||||||
I THESE are the dead who caught thy word unspoken, O land of our desire ... and heard thy dumb decree, And hearing, they knew there was no room for other token Save the barrier of their golden youth betwixt the foe and thee. II These are the dead who loved old lore and learning, Valley-lands and mountain-tops ... and there they would have stayed, But girding on their armour and resolutely turning Left they the songs and the dreams they had made. III Loving life's immensitiesthey knew as they spent them, Not with idle gesturesbut humblyyet with pride, That bodies are but dust, and the wise gods lent them To build anew within the world a hope that had died. IV Hallowed, ever hallowed shall we hold them; we shall cherish The memory of their going while the great seas flow, And we shall look upon them as the acorn-seeds which perish That the green buds break and the strong trees grow. V Raise, then, their temples high that those who come here after, Nurtured in the shelter of the firm, wide oak, Shall pause awhile from singing and from dreaming and from laughter And see above their hearth-fires the chariots in the smoke. IV Steadfast as the morning star, with fire of hope unshaken, Wondrous as an Easter dawn with resurrection light, Shall they flame into the future with each sun that bids us waken To the glory of the heritage they kept within the night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANTICHRIST, OR THE REUNION OF CHRISTENDOM; AN ODE by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON WALES VISITATION by ALLEN GINSBERG WELSH INCIDENT by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES THE BARD; A PINDARIC ODE by THOMAS GRAY THE TRIUMPHS OF OWEN: A FRAGMENT by THOMAS GRAY WELSH LANDSCAPE by RONALD STUART THOMAS A BALLAD OF GLYNDWR'S RISING by ARTHUR GLYN PRYS-JONES A HYMN FOR ST. DAVID'S DAY (TO THE MEMORY OF SIR OWEN M. EDWARDS) by ARTHUR GLYN PRYS-JONES A SONG OF CALDEY (TO THE PRIOR AND BENEDICTINE BRETHREN ON THE ISLAND) by ARTHUR GLYN PRYS-JONES |
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