GWILI’S PRIZE POEM.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION.

Mr. R. Morris Lewis, a gifted Swansea litterateur, whose translations of Welsh poems have frequently been published, has written the accompanying Enlgish version of Gwili’s Welsh War Poem. The note at the end is suggested by an eminent Welsh musician.

Gwili’s verses, it will be recalled, won the prize in the competition organised by General Owen Thomas for a recruiting song for Wales.

YOUNG MEN OF KYMRU!
(Air – Captain Morgan’s March).

An English version of the Welsh War Poem, written by Gwili (Rev. J. Jenkins, M. A., Ammanford).

Young Men of Kymru! Hear the trumpet, all!
Hark! for it soundeth Heaven’s own call;
Hark! your Leaders bid you to a righteous war,
Wistful your comrades wait you afar.

Refrain —

Young Men of Kymru hoist her banner ye!
Hail “The Day” for Europe her soul to free.

Chorus —

Young Men of Kymru! &c.

Hear on the hillsides a calling as of old.
Such as roused the men of Llewelyn the bold;
One in loyal answer, rise with eager eye,
Feel ye not the stirring of Glyn Dwr’s cry!

See battered Belgium’s desecrated lands,
Mark the base intruder’s vile demands;
Lest, alas! from Britain a rending cry ascend,
Fight! our unsullied Isle to defend.

Free, willing warriors have shielded Britain's past;
Liberty’s trumpet sounded the blast;
Ye sons of heroes of never-dying fame,
Will you, then, not move till to move be shame!

Heirs, you of ages of noble British bands,
Haste! a requital the hour commands;
Freedom and Justice all your soul require,
Ready, Heaven grant! to be tried by fire.

Sons of little Gwalia, that in days of yore
Floods of disaster bravely bore,
Stand by the small ones the tyrant foot has trod,
Hear the voice of Belgium – Servia – God!

Ye who have striven to lift the land you love,
Still beneath her banner of purity move;
Wanton oppression, deal it one death-blow,
So, thereafter, Europe may war never know.

Swansea, R. MORRIS LEWIS.(Translator)

[Note – In the last stanza (and in that only) the music for lines 3 and 4 should be that of the Refrain, which should be sung by the soloist after each verse, and followed by the Chorus.]

THE END.