Land of the Dragon

[taliesin_the_poet]

Hush, the dragon sleeps -
She dreams in legends of a day,
Of days when she was young;
When her Celtic fire burned in veins
Of naked warriors: they were strong -
She was strong through them.

Today she waits;
In slumber's prison coiled,
Growing young again:
Kept alive by her people, glowing in their hearts,
Their beating massage firing her,
Making her strong.

How will she know tomorrow?
Will her land rise proud as Snowdon
Like in her calf-young days?
Will Taliesin's poetry spark anew,
Inspire her flame to melt her bonds
And taste strength's sweat?

Yes, her destiny, her heaven
Will dawn again, the wheel revolving;
Her youthful glory renewed:
Her Celtic heritage will live
And Cymru's name will mean again
The land of the strong.

[pseud]

This is nice, it reads like a shortened, feminine Milton. Very archaic and lofty - I like it.

Pardon my uncultured mind for just a moment - what/who is Cymru?

[taliesin_the_poet]

Thanks!

As for the Cymru bit - Cymru is the Welsh word for Wales.

[cameron]

Hi ttp

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your contributions so far.

I'm off to the land of the dragon in 2 weeks time so this is quite topical. I enjoyed this one, but it is a little cliched. It's like thistles and Scotland, and shamrocks and Ireland etc. It also reads like a Welsh version of Land of Hope and Glory. Perhaps there are better ways to celebrate Welshness.

My 3rd favourite poet is RS Thomas who evokes the Welsh landscape and people brilliantly.

Look forward to more

Cam
ps if my memory serves me right The Book of Taliesin was a rather bad Deep Purple album. Some might say they all were.

[taliesin_the_poet]

Thanks for that, too!

Cliched, yes - I agree slightly, in that the title is trite and samey; then again, I suppose in my defence, y'r 'onner, I could say it fleshes out the cliche in some new and interesting muscle. Doesn't make it any less of a cliche, though...

[taliesin_the_poet]

I suppose Messrs Coverdale et al were trying to cash in on a sort of new age Celtic zeitgeist. When they weren't on about "Smowowowowowke on the Wauuuuuuuugh-terrrrrr". And remember, I'm not mentioning Spinal Tap, kids...