Jac May Arts

Darren Lwyd above Pen y Maes, Capel y ffin

poem & drawing by John A C May

I met three ladies on the moor,
Bright and brave and breezy,
Clambering up the rocky path
from meadows broad and easy.

I saw as they went slowly up
the sky was coming down
But though I warned them not to go
They answered with a frown:

“Thank you, but it’s quite okay,
We know the path right well.
We only did it yesterday
And nothing odd befell.”

And so all breezily they went
And vanished in the cloud,
High above Capel-y-ffin
On the crags of Darren Lwyd.

No one saw those ladies more,
They never came to Hay-on-Wye,
But I’ve seen shimmers in the mist
As they’ve gone breezing by.

And you may see them too I fear
Three ladies brave and bright,
Or hear them sighing on the moor
On a misty moonlit night.

January 2026