Martyrs blest,
Strange joy lights up their faces,
   Their spirits are at rest.
The dear old Abbey crumbles
   All swiftly to decay:
Oh! for its restoration!
   Cadfan! Dubritius! pray!
Ye thousand Saints of Bardsey,
   Lift up your pleading song,
That Jesus may avenge you,
   Of this most cruel wrong!

* * * * *

A hundred years are over,
   Two stranger pilgrims steal,
To Bardsey’s Abbey ruins,
   To pray for Bardsey’s weal.
The night was stormy, darksome,
   No moonlight’s silver ray
Lit up the desolation
   That all around them lay.
The hour was lonely midnight,
   See! now beside the tomb,
Where holy Cadfan resteth,
   A light steals through the gloom,
And ’mid the light a figure,
   In holy Monk’s attire,
And smiling sweetly, brightly,
   Points to the ruined choir.
“Pilgrims faithful, Pilgrims true,
List to that I tell to you.
Years three hundred shall not end,
Ere the King of Heaven shall send,
Saints to rear this sacred fane,
And restore her walls again.
Saints above cease not their cry,
Unto Christ the Lord Most High,
That His ceaseless praises may
Here arise by night and day.
Newborough’s Lord shall own this soil;
Ere he resteth from life’s toil,
Jesus, for His servants’ sake,
Bids him restoration make.
And if Newborough’s Lord obey,
That which Jesu’s servants say,
He shall gain a blessing bright,
In the realms of Morning Light.
If he do not grant their prayer,
He shall lose a blessing rare,
When he lies on his last bed,
Sad regret shall crown his head.
To his son shall then be given, [52]
Choicest blessings from High Heaven,
For he shall restore to God,
Through the Monks this sacred sod.”
Saying thus he sought repose,
In the tomb whence he arose.

* * * * *

The Angel shewed me these things,
   In pictures bright and true;
I woke!—my eyes were resting
   Upon the waters blue.
But oh! the waves seem sighing
   For sorrow at my tale,
The sea-birds floating o’er them.
   Sent forth a piteous wail.
Oh happy waves! no tyrant
   Can hush your endless song.
May ye again comingle
   With Bardsey’s chants ere long.
Then Heaven, and Earth, and Nature,
   In unison shall raise,
One grand joy-peal of gladness,—
   One mighty shout of praise!

Written at Barmouth and Aberdaron, off Bardsey Isle, February, 1870.