Y Gododdin

Y Gododdin is the earliest known British poem, and is attributed to Aneirin in about 600 CE. The poem describes warriors feasting in a great hall in or near what is now the city of Edinburgh, before setting out to die in a heroic battle against the Saxons from which none returned. ("Never was there such a host/From the fort of Eiddyn,/That would scatter abroad the mounted ravagers.")

In the 1869 translation by William Skene , the first verse reads:

Of manly disposition was the youth,

Valour had he in the tumult;

Fleet thick-maned chargers

Were under the thigh of the illustrious youth;

A shield, light and broad,

Was on the slender swift flank,

A sword, blue and bright,

Golden spurs, and ermine.

It is not by me

That hatred shall be shown to thee;

I will do better towards thee,

To celebrate thee in poetic eulogy.

Sooner hadst thou gone to the bloody bier

Than to the nuptial feast;

Sooner hadst thou gone to be food for ravens

Than to the conflict of spears;

Thou beloved friend of Owain!

Wrong it is that he should be under ravens.

It is evident in what region

The only son of Marro was killed.