“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—

Fallen are the heroes who fought by his side!

Fatherless children now weep, broken-hearted,

Mournfully wandering by Rhuddlan’s dark tide!

Small was the band that escaped from the slaughter,

Flying for life as the tide ’gan to flow;

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;

Silent and deep is their watery grave.