The Mist
Yesterday, Thursday (a day for drinking,
it was good for me to have, I got a favour,
a dependable sign, I am thin for her sake,
4 complete love) I got
a course amongst lovely branches under the greenwood
with a girl, she agreed to meet me.
There was no one under dear God the Father
8 (bless her) who knew,
when break of day came on Thursday,
how full of joy I was
as I went, [to] see the beauty,
12 to the land where the tall slender maid was,
when there came indeed on a long moor
a mist just like night.
A great parchment roll which was a cover to the rain,
16 pallid rows to stop me,
a rusting tin-coloured sieve,
bird-net of the black earth,
a dark hedge on a narrow path,
20 an endless blanket in the sky,
a grey cowl making the ground one colour,
a lid on every gaping valley,
roof lattice seen up above,
24 a great weal over woods, haze of the land,
thick grey fleece, pale grey, flaccid and loose,
the colour of smoke, field's cowl,
hedge of rain to hinder welfare,
28 coat of armour of an oppressive shower,
it would deceive men, dark appearance,
shaggy cloak of the lands,
towers of Gwyn's tribe
32 travelling on high, headdress of the wind,
its grim cheeks hide the land,
a blanket covering three signs of the Zodiac,
darkness, a thick unlovely one,
36 blindness of the world to deceive a poet,
broad web of thick deceptive cambric,
it was spread out like a rope,
a spider's web, like wares of a French shop,
40 flaccid headland of Gwyn and his tribe,
speckled smoke which gets everywhere,
steam around small trees,
bear's breath where dogs bark,
44 ointment of the witches of Annwfn,
it wets stealthily like dew,
damp opaque habergeon of the land.
It's easier to go on a journey by night
48 over moors than in mist by day.
The stars come from the sky
like flames of wax candles,
but neither moonlight nor the Lord's stars,
52 painful promise, will come in mist.
He did ill when He made the mist
forever black and confining, it was lightless.
It blocked my path beneath the sky,
56 the dark grey curtain hinders a love messenger,
and prevented me (swift getting)
from going to my slender-browed girl.