"ASK ye why around me twine Tendrils of the Gascon vine? Ask ye, why in martial pride, Sculptured laurels deck my side, Blended with that noble tree, Badge of Albion's liberty? Cambria me, for glory won By the waves of broad Garonne, Sends to greet her bravest son; Proved beyond the western deep, By rebel clans on Ulster's steep; Proved, where first, on Gallia's plain, The banish'd lily bloom'd again; And proved where ancient bounty calls The traveller to his father's halls! Nor marvel, then, that round me twine The oak, the laurel, and the vine: For thus was Cambria wont to see Her Hirlas-horn of victory: Nor Cambria e'er, in days of yore, To worthier chief the Hirlas bore!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO MY MOTHER SLEEPING by MARY RUSSELL MITFORD SONNET: 57 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): MEDEA BETRAYED by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS BEVERLY SHORE IN WINTER by THOMAS GOLD APPLETON INVITES POETS AND HISTORIANS TO WRITE IN CYNTHIA'S PRAISE by PHILIP AYRES |