Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Ewias
By Michael Drayton (1563–1631)T
To David, that he would their ancient right protect.
’Mongst Hatterill’s lofty hills, that with the clouds are crowned,
The valley Ewias lies, immured so deep and round,
As they below, that see the mountains rise so high,
Might think the straggling herds were grazing in the sky:
Which in it such a shape of solitude doth bear,
As Nature at the first appointed it for prayer:
Where, in an aged cell, with moss and ivy grown,
In which not to this day the sun hath ever shone,
That reverend British saint, in zealous ages past,
To contemplation lived; and did so truly fast,
As he did only drink what crystal Hodney yields,
And fed upon the leeks he gathered in the fields.
In memory of whom, in the revolving year,
The Welchmen on his day that sacred herb do wear.