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The following Welsh poem was sent in by John Owens, who has also provided the English translation.
By way of introduction, John explains that the poem is written in rather childish format, probably so as to appeal to youngsters in order to convey the message at the end.
The poet, John Ceiriog Hughes, originated from the Mold district, but spent most of his life as a railway clerk in Manchester, where he pined for his welsh home land.
John Ceiriog Hughes is most famous for another poem "Nant y Mynydd".
Y Ddafad Benllwyd
1. Ymhlith rhyw ddeugain mil
O ddefaid bychan penwyn
R’oedd dafad benllwyd bach
Yn byw ar Fynydd Berwyn
Ac ni fu dafad fach erioed
Mor hir ei phen a chwim ei throed.
Amongst some twenty thousand
Small whiteheaded sheep
There was a small greyheaded one
Living on Berwyn Mountain
And never was a little sheep
So nimble and so wise.
2. Fel ebol dros bridd gwâdd
Neu gath drost ben llygoden
Hi neidiai dros y gwrych
Ac yn ei hôl drachefn
Gorweddai i lawr gan gnoi ei chil
Yn feistres ar y deugain mil.
Like a foal over an invited course
Or a cat over a mouse
She would leap over the hedges
And back again
She lay down and chew her cud
A mistress of her twenty thousand
3. Ar ben y graig gerllaw
R’oedd blewyn glas yn tyfu
Ac i ddaneddau’r graig
Yr adar ddônt i nythu
Ac ebe’r ddafad – gwaith go gâs
Yw dringo atat, flewyn glas.
On a rocky crag nearby
Grew some fine green grass
And to the rocky teeth
The birds came to nest
So she said – Twould be hard work
To climb to thee O green grass.
4. Mae’r defaid, flewyn glas
Yn bwyta grug ac eithin
A thithau wrth eu pen
Yn gwenu ac yn chwerthin.
Mae yma dduegain mil a’th bawr
Os doi di dipyn bach i lawr.
These sheep, o green grass
Are eating heather and gorse
Whilst you above them
Are smiling and laughing.
Here are twenty thousand that would eat thee
If you came a little lower
5. Ond ni ddoi’r blewyn glas
I waered oddi yno
A’r ddafad benllwyd aeth
I ddringo tuag ato.
A dringo bu am bedair awr
Nes cyrhaedd i fynu’r hen ddaneddau mawr.
But the Green Grass wouldn’t
Come down from there
So the greyheaded sheep went
To climb towards it
And she climbed for four hours
Until she reached those toothlike crags
6. Cyrhaeddodd ben ei thaith
Ac, fel petai mewn newyn
Cyn cnoi ei chil un waith
Bwytaodd ef – bob blewyn.
A theimlai’i hun yn mynd yn fras
Pan yn mwynhau y blewyn glas.
She reached the end of her journey
And as if she were famished
Before once chewing her cud
She ate it – every blade.
She felt herself becoming fat,
Whilst enjoying the green grass.
7. Bu’n byw am bedair blynedd
Yn dew a thyn ei chroen
Ond ar y creigiog ddanedd
Hi gollodd bedwar oen.
A hi a gwympodd tros y trwyn
I’r dibyn mawr ar ôl yr wyn.
She lived for four years
Being fat and tight skinned
But on those rocky teeth
She lost four of her lambs
And she fell over the edge
To the deep precipice after her lambs.
8. R’un fath a’r ddafad benllwyd
Aeth llawer dyn yn fras
Wrth gripian tua’r dafarn
Lle tŷf y blewyn glas
A’r diwedd oedd, i’w blant a’i wraig
Ag ef ei hun, fynd dros y graig.
Like the greyheaded sheep
many a man went fat.
By creeping to the Tavern
Where the green grass grew.
And in the end, his children and his wife
And he himself, went over the edge.
John Ceiriog Hughes
(Ceiriog)
o’i lyfr ‘Gemau Ceiriog’
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