Robert Southey

For a Monument in the Vale of Ewias

HERE was it, stranger, that the patron saint
Of Cambria passed his age of penitence,
A solitary man; and here he made
His hermitage, the roots his food, his drink
Of Hodney’s mountain stream. Perchance thy youth
Has read with eager wonder how the Knight
Of Wales in Ormandine’s enchanted bower
Slept the long sleep; and, if that in thy veins
Flow the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood
Hath flowed with quicker impulse at the tale
Of David’s deeds, when through the press of war
His gallant comrades followed his green crest
To victory. Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,
And this fair vale of Ewias, and the stream
Of Hodney, to thine afterthoughts will rise
More grateful, thus associate with the name
Of David and the deeds of other days.