Classic Poem

FATHER OF GWILYM AB EVAN HEN ,

A Father ! tuneful Gwilym mourns,
That now to kindred dust returns;
Nor tuneful Gwilym sighs alone,
All Lliyn regrets her Thatcher gone.

Who now with useful, artful, hand,
Shall bid the friendly roof expand;
Shall fill with care the leaking flaw;
Like Evan plait the pliant straw;
And bid the thatch so neatly done,
Resist alike the storm and sun?

Ye Nymphs who nurse the social blaze,
(On whom our youth with rapture gaze)
O check the flame that flashes, flies,
Not that which sparkles in your eyes;
With care the crackling faggot watch,
O think that we have none to thatch.

Ye floating clouds of fleecy gold,
That o'er our heads a deluge hold,
That down, at times, your plenty pour,
And bid Eryri's torrents roar;
Your rage, in mercy, now restrain,
On distant fields let fall your rain;
O gently let the shower be shed,
For Arvon's valu'd Thatcher's dead!

Ye Winds that frighten Ocean's waves,
And hoard your storm in hideous caves,
Pass softly — when your wings are spread,
O'er Lliyn's expos'd, uncover'd, head;
Her Evan's gone — of hope bereft,
In pity spare what thatch is left.

He's gone: to him we look in vain,
In Summer's heat, or Autumn's rain,
When ice arrests the pendant drops,
And snow conceals the cottage tops;
His son — to other heights has flown,
The Muses claim him as their own;
And if some day — of happier date,
Contrives a roof, it must be slate.

Ye mice to other regions hie,
Away — ye flocks of sparrows fly;
Ye straggling bees who love to store,
The cells you've often fill'd before,
Now keep from human haunts aloof,
You all will miss the matted roof;

Yet will the tale that makes you sad,
Bid every hazle grove be glad;
And sedgy tufts will rustle — play,
When Zephyrs tell the tidings gay,
That Death has laid our Evan low,
And thatch'd in earth their direst foe.

And late though Nature claim'd her debt,
We all regard it with regret;
Shall long recount his various care,
And name him with a grateful prayer;
Yet know that to the sons of worth,
Life's close is but a second birth,
For those blest realms that roof the earth.