wrth gofio Waldo-cofio

Comment

Comment by iain williams on July 21, 2009 at 1:28pm

here is a translation done by D.M.Lloyd....a wee bit old fashioned perhaps and oozing with sentimentality. But it does the trick I think-captures the spirit of the original.

Remembrance
One blissful moment as the sun is setting
A mellow moment ere the night comes on
To bring to mind things which are long forgotten,
Now lost in dust of eras that are gone.

Now like the foam breaking on lonely beaches,
Or the wind’s song and no one there to hear,
I know they call on us in vain to listen-
The old forgotten things men loved so dear.

Things wrought through cunning skill in early ages,
Neat little dwellings and resplendent halls,
And well told stories that are lost for ever
And golden gods on whom no suppliant calls.

The little words of languages once living
Lively was then their sound on lips of men
And pleasing to the ear in children’s prattle
But now no tongue will fashion them again.

O countless generations of earth’s children
Of dreams divine and fragile godlikeness
Is there but stillness for the hearts that quickened
That knew delight and knew grief’s bitterness?


Often when evening falls and I am lonely
I long one more to bring you all to mind,
Pray, is there no one treasures and holds dear
The old forgotten things of humankind?

Waldo Williams
Translated from the Welsh by D.M. Lloyd.