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...THE WATER MILL by SARAH DOUDNEY THE ATLANTIDES by HENRY DAVID THOREAU OUR LEFT' by FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR RIVALRY IN LOVE by WILLIAM WALSH (1663-1707) HUMAN IGNORANCE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH BY WAY OF EXPLANATION by VIRGINIA A. ALLIN PATRIOTISM AND FREEDOM by JOANNA BAILLIE TO MRS W. ON HER EXCELLENT VERSES WRITTEN IN A FIT OF SICKNESS by APHRA BEHN |