R. S. Thomas 'Taliesin'

R. S. THOMAS.

Taliesin

I have been all men known to history,

Wondering at the world and at time passing;

I have seen evil, and the light blessing

Innocent love under a spring sky.

I have been Merlin wandering in the woods

Of a far country, where the winds waken

Unnatural voices, my mind broken

By a sudden aqcuaintance with man's rage.

I have been Glyndwr set in the vast night,

Scanning the stars for the propitious omen,

A leader of men, yet cursed by the crazed women

Mourning their dead under the same stars.

I have been Goronwy, forced from my own land

To taste the bitterness of the salt ocean;

I have known exile and a wild passion

Of longing changing to a cold ache.

King, beggar and fool, I have been all by turns,

Knowing the body's sweetness, the mind's treason;

Taliesin still, I show you a new world, risen,

Stubborn with beauty, out of the heart's need.