Poetical Remains of the Late Mrs Hemans/Howel's Song

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HOWEL'S SONG.




Howel ab Einion Llygliw was a distinguished bard of the 14th century. A beautiful poem, addressed by him to Myfanwy Vychan, a celebrated beauty of those times, is still preserved amongst the remains of the Welsh bards. The ruins of Myfanwy's residence, Castle Dinas Brân, may yet be traced on a high hill near Llangollen.



Press on, my steed! I hear the swell*[1]
Of Valle Crucis' vesper-bell,
Sweet floating from the holy dell
    O'er woods and waters round.

Perchance the maid I love, e'en now,
From Dinas Brân's majestic brow,
Looks o'er the fairy world below,
    And listens to the sound!

I feel her presence on the scene!
The summer-air is more serene,
The deep woods wave in richer green,
    The wave more gently flows!
Oh! fair as Ocean's curling foam!*[2]
Lo! with the balmy hour I come,
The hour that brings the wanderer home,
    The weary to repose!

Haste! on each mountain's darkening crest,
The glow hath died, the shadows rest,

The twilight-star, on Deva's breast,
    Gleams tremulously bright;
Speed for Myfanwy's bower on high!
Though scorn may wound me from her eye,
Oh! better by the sun to die,
    Than live in rayless night!

  1. *"I have rode hard, mounted on a fine high-bred steed, upon thy account, O thou with the countenance of cherry-flower bloom. The speed was with eagerness, and the strong long-ham'd steed of Alban reached the summit of the highland of Brân."

  2. * "My loving heart sinks with grief without thy support, O thou that hast the whiteness of the curling waves!*****I know that this pain will avail me nothing towards obtaining thy love, O thou whose countenance is bright as the flowers of the hawthorn!"— Howel's Ode to Myfanwy.