The Song Of Heledd

My brothers were killed at a single stroke
defending the poor town of Tern.
The blood on the fields was as common as grass
and the hall of Cynddylan is burned.

** **

Cynddylan would ride into battle and kill.
His heart was as wld as a boar,
the enemy corpses were two layers deep
when my brother he rode out to war.

** **

Cynddylan he rode in a fine purple cloak
and he treated his guests like a lord.
Now his white flesh it lies in a coffin of black,
his life claimed by the vile Saxon hoardes.

** **

Cynddylan will never return to his hall,
it is dark, there's no fire and no bed.
I lie sick and feeble, and stroke the dark hair
that will never grow grey on his head.

written by the Celtic Bards for the Prince of Powys, Cynddylan who died in 655.