of the world I loved,
But death's dark torrent roareth near.
Now 'neath my feet the path I tread
Crumbling gives way, and filled with dread
Into the waves below I hear
The fragments falling.

Strait, strait and hopeless is the vale!
Nor can I evermore regain
The days of happiness and health
Which once I knew, days free from pain,
Nor move a foot from where I stand,
And backward eyes of longing strain
A moment--ere I leave the land
And brave those waters.

Yet strait tho' be the vale and dim,
And though the skies are dark and drear,
And though the mountains everywhere
Rise steep and rugged round me here
To bar me out from life! there lives
One Star which shineth bright and clear
From out the sky and comfort gives
To soothe my sadness.

A Prayer.

O my God, my Friend, my Father,
Thou who knowest all the secrets
Of man's heart and all his failings--
O forgive me for forgetting
All thy loving care towards me,
Evil child and disobedient,
And for setting up an idol
All of earth within thy temple.
And receive from hands unworthy
As a sacrifice accepted
On Thine altar, Lord a bruised
Contrite heart that ever suffers
Daily pangs of disappointment
Even than death itself more bitter.
Take the one love of a lifetime,
All the hopeless love and passion
Dedicated to another
Who with me Thy place had taken,
As if they to Thee were rendered.
Count it, Father, as sufficient
Chastening, that I must abandon
All my hopes my love of winning,
All I have of kin and country,
All the comforts health bestoweth,
And across the sea go seeking
All alone a grave 'mid strangers.
O, my God--for I have suffered,
Grant at last Thy peace, Thy blessing.

Footnotes:

{66} Aregwedd--the Welsh for Cartismandua.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELSH LYRICS OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY***

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