Shwmae. I've been tracing a song which was very common in north Wales (and maybe further afield) in the first half of the 20th Century. It's written as if by a man, forced to move away from his home, to work abroad - the version I've tracked down talks for sawing wood in Canda, although the first version I heard was set in the South Wales coalfield.

So. I know A tune to it, but wonder whether this is the tune mentioned in the newspaper in which the lyrics were quoted in 1931. I'm indebted to Dr Gwen Gruffydd for these words:

HIRAETH Y BARDD AM BETHESDA PAN YNG NGHOEDWIG CANADA
Ton: "KATHLEEN"

Mae hiraeth fel cleddyf yn trywanu fy nghalon
Pan gofiwyf am Gymru, fy hoff gartref gynt,
'Rwy'n cofio ei llynoedd a'i gloewon afonydd,
A llawer pen mynydd lle bum ar fy hynt;
'Rwy'n cofio Bethesda, hon ydyw'r dre' hardda'
A welais yn unlle lle sangodd fy nhroed;
O! na bawn i yno ar noson fel heno,
Yn lle bod yn llifio yng nghanol y coed

'The longing of the poet for Bethesda, whilst in the Canadian Forest'
Tune: Kathleen.

I translate roughly. So, the poet's homesickness is like a sword in his heart, when he thinks of his dear home in Bethesda. He remembers its lakes and rivers and mountains where he wandered. He remembers Bethesda, the finest town he wver walked; Oh! that he couldn't be there that night, rather than sawing in the middle of the woods.

Any ideas of a song that would fit these words, that was around c.1900?