You lie, bleak town, named by the common mouth
shared by the Rheidol and the Ystwyth threading
across the little plain, huddled athwart
the gales flung by the Irish Sea against you.
Breakers rise high above the choppy shallows
to smash upon black polished shingle and gravel
beach, and hammer at the sea wall, flinging
spray to drench dark terraced houses built
of slate well metamorphosed for standing onslaughts,
and drift with rain to salt the inland hills.
Aberystwyth is a pretty seaside town in Wales where the Rivers Rheidol and Ystwyth flow into the Irish Sea.