I love the nightingale of May, that hinders morning sleep,
With her tranquil eyes, and her long grey cheek.
I love the bird with her clarion voice.
In the solacing lay of the wood, on her beautiful seat.
I saw at Rhuddlan the rush of the flame before Owein,
And carnage from spears and ruddy onsets.
I saw there on the plain in the conflict
A hundred chieftains silent from loss of consciousness.’
The Delight is full of the polished gems of literature; it is one of those pieces that one never gets tired of reading over and over again. It is not a connected poem, but a collection of fine thoughts and striking references. In the above examples such expressions as ‘gorloes rydieu dyfr,’ ‘golygon hwyr,’ ‘cathl foddawg coed,’ will strike the reader as peculiarly beautiful and appropriate; they are the expressions of a master mind. Gwalchmei was a great lover of nature, and in showing his love he has chosen words which are seldom paralleled.
Another of Gwalchmei’s famous poems is that from which Gray gave English literature the Triumphs of Owen. It describes a battle on the coast of Anglesey, and is one of the strongest battle pictures ever drawn in words. The poem opens with a eulogy of Owein Gwynedd; the fleets of the enemy are described coming against him; then follows a wonderful description of the fight.
‘Teir lleng y daethant, liant lestri,
Teir praff prif lynges wy bres brofi;
Un o Iwerddon,
Arall arfogion
O’r Llychlynigion
Llwrw hirion lli.
A’r drydedd dros fôr o Norddmandi
Ar drafferth anferth, anfad iddi.’
‘In three squadrons they came, the vessels of the flood,
Three mighty prime fleets to attempt him with fierceness;
One from Ireland,
Another of armed men
Of the Danes,
On the long waves of the tide.
