Saturday, December 4, 2021

The Druids by Kenneth Morris

A poem, from the April 1926 issue of The Theosophical Path.

The Druids

Iolo told me there were men of old
Who fashioned harps of flowers and faery gold.
The hills of eve, the dew-cool vales of morn,
He said they wandered singing, gathering bloom—
­Pale cuckoo-flowers, wood-sorrel, elfin-thorn,
Dewed mountain-field cowslips, and yellow broom,
The raggedrobin bloom, the daffodil—
And would with song distil
All the virtues of these mountain-flowers
To gold, and fashion harps of such strange powers,
In them would be tunes wherewith at will
They could cure every ill.

Iolo told me, too, they were so wise
Little escaped them in the night-blue skies:
They could interpret all Ophiuchus’ moods
Ever and ever round the Pole who swings
His solemn stars. The oaks’ imaginings,
And what the wild bee, clover-drunken, broods,
And what the morning dew,
Iolo said, the gentle Druids knew,
Because they were still-hearted as deep noon
In a green, bee-loved glade where ringdoves croon—­
Still as the mirrored sudden jewel gleam
Of kingfisher wings on a dark-pooled forest stream. . . .

Sunday, May 23, 2021

New Issues with Following Blogs by email

The short version:  Most blogs I'm involved with have a "Follow by email" option. The "Follow by email" function worked (fine) via Google's Feedburner since I started using it.  Google is eliminating Feedburner in July, which means I have had to find an alternate source. I have transferred this following-by-email function to follow.it. I already have seen anomalies, and hope they won't be numerous. This blog has a new "Follow by email" widget that goes directly to follow.it. I have migrated the subscription list there too, but I suspect there will be issues. I'll try to fix errors if they are reported to me.

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The Blackbird by Kenneth Morris

Here is a recently discovered poem, "The Blackbird" signed as by Cenydd Morus. It appeared in The Nationalist: A Non-Political Magazine for Wales, October 1912:



Thursday, January 28, 2021

The New York Times Book Review on Fates

A recently discovery is a short review of Kenneth Morris's first novel, The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed (as by Cenydd Morus), on its original publication in 1914. This appeared in The New York Times Book Review, November 29, 1914, in unsigned column “Books for Christmas Gifts”. 

Before she felt the charm of those legends of Ireland which she has so gracefully retold, Lady Gregory was an eager student of Welsh folklore. Now, through the enlightened scholarship of Cenydd Morus, some specimens of this most interesting mythology are made accessible to readers ignorant of Cymric. “The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed” (Point Loma, California. Aryan Theosophical Press.) is an elaborate reconstruction of ancient Welsh mythology. The framework of the plot is taken from “The Four Branches of the Mabinogi.”  But the author has been more interested in recreating the spirit and the atmosphere of the bygone days than in keeping close to the letter of the text that has come down to us. His thought is Theosopphical, but the book is not a piece of propaganda, it is a work of art. And R. Machell’s sympathetic illustrations in black and white greatly increase this singular book’s value.