Indifferent bards pretend
They pretend a monstrous beast
With a hundred heads
And a fight between its teeth:
A toad with, on its thighs,
A hundred claws
For punishing in their flesh
A hundred souls.
And three are in a circle
Telling of the flood
And of the coming day
When mankind will be judged.
But I know three-score songs
Of the blood-spotted sword
Of the origin of language
Of the slaying of the boar.

Of nine kinds of faculties,
Of fruit God made me,
Of the blossom of the primrose,
Of buds of shrubs and trees:
Pulled from sea-water
And the flower of the nettle,
Enchanted and spellbound
Before I was immortal.
I know about the Emperor
When he was half-burnt.
I hold the knowledge in my hands
Of the stars before the earth.
I have been a viper,
A round stone in a mill.
My cassock: red all over.
I prophesy no evil.

When the torrents came
From heaven to the deep
And rushed with violent impulse
I was sat by Dylan's knees.
I have journeyed with and counted
The stars above the sea.
I was in a hidden castle
At the battle of the trees.
Do the prophets tell of Arthur
Or call on Taliesin's name?
One tells of the deluge
And one of Judgement Day.
There will be a great darkness,
And a purifying flame,
A shaking of the mountain.
There will be a great wave.