A. G. Prys-Jones
A Day Which Endures Not
As for me
I have seen Llywelyn
With all the valiant men of Wales around him,
His armies like the hosts of Merfyn;
And have marched with chieftains mustering
On the steep hills and the deep lowlands,
Pillars of war were they all, and mighty.
I have seen brave youth in battle
And heard the high thunder of horsemen:
I have drunk rare wines from chalices,
With rich meats laid on fine linen
In the bountiful palaces of princes.
I have listened to much oratory,
To the jewelled harmonies of bards
Declaiming their lyrics in intricate metres:
I have heard the songs and satires
Of itinerant minstrels,
And shared the merriment of maidens
Tickled by the saucy tales of story-tellers.
I have had my fill also
Of festivals and ceremonies,
The gleam and glitter of contests
Where strong men rejoiced in their prowess
And the clever in their cunning.
But now all these are gone
Like dreams in the morning:
And thus, each soul must journey forth
At the time of his reckoning
From a day which endures not:
In this the lord of many lands
The poor man’s master
Gains no reprieve, no respite:
He passes through the portal with the peasant.
(Adapted from the Welsh of Elidr Sais, 13th C.)
Page(s) 9
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The