Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VIII. National Spirit. 1904. | | | | III. War | | “Where are the men?” | | Taliesin (c. 534–c. 599) |
| | From the Welsh by Thomas Oliphant
WHERE are the men who went forth in the morning, | |
| Hope brightly beaming in every face? | |
| Fearing no danger,—the Saxon foe scorning,— | |
| Little thought they of defeat or disgrace! | |
| Fallen is their chieftain—his glory departed— | 5 |
| Fallen are the heroes who fought by his side! | |
| Fatherless children now weep, broken-hearted, | |
| Mournfully wandering by Rhuddlan’s dark tide! | |
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| Small was the band that escaped from the slaughter, | |
| Flying for life as the tide ’gan to flow; | 10 |
| Hast thou no pity, thou dark rolling water? | |
| More cruel still than the merciless foe! | |
| Death is behind them, and death is before them; | |
| Faster and faster rolls on the dark wave; | |
| One wailing cry—and the sea closes o’er them; | 15 |
| Silent and deep is their watery grave. | | | | |
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