Page:Six Old English Chronicles.djvu/525

Rh

primary domestic bard

Am I to Elphin,

And my original country

Is the region of Cherubims.

Joannes the divine

Called me Merddin,

At length every king

Will call me Taliesin.

I was full nine months

In the womb of mother Cyridwen;

I was little Gwion heretofore,

Taliesin am I now.

I was with my Lord

In the superior state,

When Lucifer did fall

To the infernal deep.

I have borne a banner

Before Alexander:

I know the names of the stars

From the north to Auster.

I have been in the circle of Gwdion

Tetragammaton;

I conducted Hean

To the depth of Ebron vale,

I was in Canaan

When Absalom was slain,

I was in the Court of Don

Before Gwdion was born,

I was an attendant

On Eli and Enoc;

I was on the cross-devoting sentence

Of the Son of the merciful God.

I have been chief keeper

Of the work of Nimrod's tower;

I have been three revolutions

In the circle of Arianrod.

I was in the Ark

With Noah and Alpha;

I beheld the destruction

Of Sodoma and Gomorra;

I was in Africa

Before Rome was built;

I am come here

To the remnants of Troia.

I was with my Lord

In the manger of the she-ass;

I strengthened Moses

Through the Jordan water.

I have been in the firmament

With Mary Magdalen;

I have been gifted with genius

From the Cauldron of Cyridwen.

I have been bard of the harp

To the Teon of Lochlyn;

I have endured hunger

For the son of the Virgin.

I have been in the White Hill

In the court of Cynvelyn,

In stocks and fetters,

For a year and a day.

I have had my abode

In the kingdom of the Trinity;

It is not known what is my body,

Whether flesh or fish.

I have been an instructor

To the whole universe;

I shall remain till the day of doom

On the face of the earth,

I have been in an agitated seat

Above the circle of Sidin,

And that continues revolving

Between three elements:

Is it not a wonder to the world,

That it reflects not a splendour?