Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Wales: Menai, the Strait

The Battle

By Owain Gwynedd (c. 1100–1170)

Translated by Thomas Stephens

THE RAVENS croaked, and human blood,

In ruddy flood, poured o’er the land;

Then burning houses war proclaimed,

Churches inflamed and palace halls;

While sheets of fire scale the sky,

And warriors cry, “To battle!”

They clearly heard the conflict’s roar

On Menai’s shore, from Seiont’s fort.

Three hundred ships, so heroes say,

The third of May, were set on fire.

Ten hundred times as many fled,

And not a beard stayed on Menai.