Venice masks

Thursday, 7 March 2019

My Chosen One - Hywel ab Owain

My Chosen One is tall and lissome,
Purple her cloak as heather blossom;
      My chosen joy it is to watch her face,
When thoughts of grace breathe from her bosom.

And oh my chosen lot t'would be to share
      With her my secret and my dower,
Whose hue outshines the billow's shower,
      Whose chaste Cymraeg completes her power.

My Chosen, till I die, what to thee am I?
      Hast no reply? to lovely silence frozen?
Mine is indeed the maid! Let Love be not delayed,
      Since thus by Heaven's aid my Queen is chosen.

Hywel ab Owain, Prince of Gwynedd (1120 - 1170) Wales
Translated by Alfred Perceval Graves
Source: Welsh poetry old and new, in English verse by Alfred Perceval Graves, Longmans, Green, and co., 1912

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