John Blackwell (Alun), was born of very poor parents at Mold in 1797. Beginning life as a shoe-maker, his successes at the Eisteddfods of Ruthin and Mold in 1823 attracted the attention of the gentry of the neighbourhood, and a fund was formed to send him to the University. He took his degree from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1828, and died rector of Manordeifi 1840. His works were published under the title of “Ceinion Alun,” in 1851 (Isaac Clarke, Ruthin), and his poems were re-published in 1879, by Mr. Isaac Foulkes of Liverpool, in the “Cyfres y Ceinion.”

Song of the Fisherman’s Wife.

Hush, restless wave! and landward gently creeping,
No longer sullen break;
All nature now is still and softly sleeping,
And why art thou awake?
The busy din of earth will soon be o’er,
Rest thee, oh rest upon thy sandy shore.

Peace, restless sea; e’en now my heart’s best treasure
Thou bearest on thy breast;
On thee he spends a life that knows no leisure
A scanty wage to wrest.
Be kind, O sea, whose limits boundless are,
And rest, oh rest, upon thy sandy bar.

Ah, cease to murmur: stay thy waves from warring,
And bid thy steeds be still;
Why should’st thou rage, when not a breeze is stirring
The treetops on the hill?
To sheltered haven bring my husband’s bark
Ere yet the shadows fall and night grows dark.

Full well may women weep, we wives and daughters
Whose men are on the deep;
But who can tell our anguish when thy waters
In stormy anger leap?
Be gentle to him, sea, and rage no more,
But rest, oh rest, upon thy sandy shore.

Thou heedest not, O sea without compassion,
But ravenest for thy prey;
I turn to One who can control thy passion,
And wildest waves allay;
And He will take my loved one ’neath His care,
And make thee rest upon thy sandy bar.

An Idyll.

Dewi.

Do you know have you seen my sweet Dolly,
Who pastures her flocks on Eryri?
Her eyes like a dart,
Have pierced my heart,
Oh, sweeter than honey is Dolly.

Hywel.

Oh, yes, I know well your sweet Dolly,
Whose cot’s at the foot of Eryri,
No tongue upon earth
Can tell of her worth,
So lovely, so winning is Dolly.

For tender and bashful is Dolly,
Not fairer nor purer the lily,
No name under heaven
So fitly is given
For the harpist to sing of as Dolly.

Dewi.

Not tender, not tender to Dewi!
No maiden so cruel as Dolly!
With many a tear
I beseech her to hear,
But deaf to my wooing is Dolly.

I have done all I could for her pleasing,
I have gathered her goats for the milking,
’Twas surely no sin,
If I hoped I might win,
Sweet kisses in payment from Dolly.

Her breast’s like the snowflakes when falling,
So white and so cold to my pleading.
My heart will soon break
For very love’s sake,
So cold, so bewitching is Dolly.

Three wishes, no more, I would utter
God bless my sweet Dolly for ever,
May I gaze on her face
Till I finish life’s race,
Then die in the arms of my Dolly.

Tintern Abbey

Here how many a heart hath broken,
Closed how many a dying eye,
Here how many in God’s acre,
E’en their names forgotten, lie!
Here how oft for lauds or vespers
Down the glen the bell hath rung,
In these walls how many an ave,
Creed, and pater have been sung.

On the timeworn pavement yonder,
Even now I seem to see,
At the shrine where once he worshipped,
Some old saint on bended knee;
Seems to rise the smoke of incense,
In a column faint and dim,
Still the organ through the rafters
Seems to peal the vesper hymn.

But where once the anthem sounded,
Silence now her dwelling finds,
And the church from porch to chancel
Knows no music but the wind’s;
Perish so all superstition!
Let the world the Truth obey,
Long may Peace and Love increasing,
O’er our fatherland hold sway.

The Nightingale.

When night first spreads her sable wings,
All earthly things to darken,
The woodland choir grows mute and still,
To thy sweet trill to hearken;
Though ’gainst thy breast there lies a thorn,
And thou woeworn art bleeding,
Yet, till the bright day dawns again,
Thou singest, pain unheeding.

And like to thee the helpmeet fair,
Her true-love’s rarest treasure,
When ’neath the clouds the sun has fled,
And hope is dead and pleasure,
When all the friends of daylight flee,
Most faithfully she clingeth,
And through the night of pain and wrong,
Her sweetest song she singeth.

Though ’neath the blight of sorrow’s smart,
Her woman’s heart oft faileth,
She moaneth not but with fond wiles
Her pain in smiles she veileth;
So sings she through the live-long night,
Till hope’s bright light appeareth,
Which glittering like a radiant eye,
Through dawn’s shy lashes peereth.