Page:Arthur Machen, The Secret Glory, 1922.djvu/188

The Secret Glory "And yet I daresay this 'golden Myfanwy' was what people call 'a common girl,' and perhaps she did rough, hard work, and nobody thought anything of her till the Bard found her bathing in the brook of Tarógi. The birds in the wood said, when they saw the nightingale: 'This is a contemptible stranger!'

"June 24. Since I wrote last in this book the summer has come. This morning I woke up very early, and even in this horrible place the air was pure and bright as the sun rose up and the long beams shone on the cedar outside the window. She came to me by the way they think is locked and fastened, and, just as the world is white and gold at the dawn, so was she. A blackbird began to sing beneath the window. I think it came from far, for it sang to me of morning on the mountain, and the woods all still, and a little bright brook rushing down the hillside between dark green alders, and air that must be blown from heaven.

There is a bird that sings in the valley of the Soar.

Dewi and Tegfeth and Cybi preside over that region;

Sweet is the valley, sweet the sound of its waters.

There is a bird that sings in the valley of the Soar;

Its voice is golden, like the ringing of the saints' bells;

Sweet is the valley, echoing with melodies.

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