(After Elvet Lewis, a contemporary Welsh poet)
A balmy air blows; the waterflags shiver,
On, on the Tide flows, on, on, up the river!
To no earth or sky allegiance he oweth;
He comes, who knows why? unless the Moon knoweth.
The Tide flows and flows; by hill and by hollow,
White rose upon rose, the foam flowers follow.
He spreads broad and full from margent to margent,
The wings of the gull are his bannerets argent.
The Tide flows and flows; Atlantic's loud charges
Mix in murmurous close with the wash of the barges.
With wondering ear the children cease playing;
The voice that they hear, what can it be saying?
Too well they shall know, when amid the wild brattle
Of the waters below, they enter life's battle.
The Tide flows apace; the ship that lies idle
Trips out with trim grace, like a bride to her bridal.
What hath she in store? shall Fate her boon give her?
Or must she no more return to the river?
The flood has gone past! Ah me! one was late for it,
And friends cry aghast: "How long must he wait for it?"
Young eyes that to-night are darkened for sorrow
Shall hail with delight their dear ship to-morrow.
Amid the sea-wrack the barque, tempest battered,
At length staggers back, like a prodigal tattered!
What if she be scarred or scoffers make light of her?
Though blemished and marred, how blest is the sight of her!
The Tide flows and flows, far past the grey towers;
And whispering goes through the wheat and the flowers.
And now his pulse takes the calm heart of the valley
And lifts, till it shakes, the low bough of the sally.
Slow, and more slow is his flow--he has tarried--
The blue Ocean's pilgrim, outwearied, miscarried!
Far, far from home, in wandering error,
A dim rocky dome beshrouding his mirror.
But hark! a voice thrills the traveller erring;
In the heart of the hills its sea-call is stirring:
And home, ever home, to its passionate pleading,
One whirl of white foam, with the ebb he is speeding.
"ORA PRO NOBIS"
(After Eifion Win, 1867- . He lies as a poet between Elfed and the "New
Bards")
A sudden shower lashes
The darkening pane;
The voice of the tempest
Is lifted again.
The centuried oaks
To their very roots rock;
And crying, for shelter
Course cattle and flock.
Our Father, forget not
The nestless bird now;
The snow is so near,
And so bare is the bough!
A great flood is flashing
Athwart the wide lee;
Like a storm-struck encampment,
The clouds rend and flee;
At the scourge of the storm
My cot quakes with affright;
Far better the hearth
Than the pavement to-night!
Our Father, forget not
The homeless outcast;
So thin is his raiment,
So bitter Thy blast!
The foam-flakes are whirling
Below on the strand,
As white as the pages
I turn with my hand;
And the curlew afar,
From his storm-troubled lair,
Laments with the cry
Of a soul in despair.
Our Father, forget not
Our mariners' state;
Their ships are so slender,
Thy seas are so great.