To The Nightingale

river of that name was born at Mold, in Flintshire, in the year 1797, and

died in 1840, in the parish of Manordeivi, Pembrokeshire, of which he was

Rector. He participated much in the Eisteddfodau of that period, and his

poems gained many of their prizes. He also edited the "Gwladgarwr," or

the Patriot, a monthly magazine, and afterwards the "Cylchgrawn," or

Circle of Grapes, another magazine, under the auspices of the Society fo

the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The subjects of this poet's

compositions were patriotic, sentimental and religious, and his poems are

characterised by deep pathos, and great sweetness of diction.]



When night o'erspreads each hill and dale

Beneath its darksome wing

Are heard thy sweet and mellow notes

Through the lone midnight ring;

And if a pang within thy breast

Should cause thy heart to bleed,

Thou wilt not hush until the dawn

Shall drive thee from the mead.



* * * * *



Altho' thy heart beneath the pang

Should falter in its throes

Thou wilt not grieve thy nestlings young,

Thy song thou wilt not close.

When all the chorus of the bush

By night and sleep are still,

Thou then dost chant thy merriest lays,

And heaven with music fill.