“I have been a course, I have been an eagle.
I have been a coracle in the seas:
I have been compliant in the banquet.
I have been a drop in a shower;
I have been a sword in the grasp of the hand
I have been a shield in battle.
I have been a string in a harp,
Disguised for nine years,
in water, in foam.
I have been sponge in the fire,
I have been wood in the covert”

— Taliesin

Book of Taliesin (c. 1275?), The Battle of the Trees

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Taliesin 102

Welsh bard 534–599

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