The Welsh title is "Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn"; English titles include "Watching the Wheat," "Watching the White Wheat," "Idle Days in Summer Time," "Harvesting the White Wheat," "Watching the Blooming Wheat," and "Shepherding the White Wheat."

WATCHING THE WHITE WHEAT
Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn

1. A simple youthful lad am I
Who loves at fancy's pleasure:
I fondly watch the blooming wheat,
Another reaps the treasure.
Oh! Wherefore still despise my suit,
Why sighing keep thy lover?
For some new charm, thou matchless fair,
I day by day discover.

2. Each day reveals some newborn grace,
Or does fond faith deceive me?
In love to Him who formed thy face,
With pity now receive me,
Then lift thine eyes, one look bestow.
Give me thy hand, my fairest,
For in thy bosom, lovely maid,
My heart's true key thou bearest.

3. While hair adorns this aching brow
Still I will love sincerely,
While ocean rolls its briny flow
Still I will love thee dearly.
Then tell the truth, in secret tell,
And under seal discover,
If it be I or who is blest
As thy true heart's best lover.

1. Mi sydd fachgen ieuanc ffol.
Yn byw yn ol fy ffansi
Myfi'n bugeilior gwenith gwyn,
Ac arall yn ei fedi.
Pam na ddeui ar fy ol,
Ryw ddydd ar ol ei gilydd?
Gwaith 'rwyn dy weld, y feinir fach,
Yn lanach, lanach beunydd!

2. Glanach, lanach wyt bob dydd,
Neu fi a'm ffydd yn ffolach,
Er mwyn y Gwr a wnaeth dy wedd,
Gwna im drugaredd ballach.
Cwnn dy ben, gwel acw draw,
Rho i mi'th law wen dirion;
Gwaith yn dy fynwes bert ei thro
Mae allwedd clo fy nghalon!

3. Tra fo dwr y mor yn hallt,
A thra fo 'ngwallt yn tyfu
A thra fo calon yn fy mron
Mi fydda'n ffyddlon iti:
Dywed imi'r gwir dan gel
A rho dan sel d'atebion,
P'un ai myfi neu arall, Ann
Sydd orau gan dy galon.
(From the page Gareth linked to)

Benjamin Britten arranged this song (text is HERE). The English lyrics are:

I was lonely and forlorn
Among the meadows mourning;
For I had wooed her oft and long,
Yet others reaped her loving.

Not to me this maid did come
To cure my painful yearning.
Yet I had watched, the fields among,
Her beauty and her blooming.

While the seas do ebb and flow
And minutes do not falter;
And while my heart beats in my breast,
My 'fliction ne'er will alter.

Ne'er shall I kiss her cheeks so fair,
Nor feel her arms embracing:
For I had watched the ripening wheat,
Yet others reaped her loving.

IDLE DAYS IN SUMMER TIME
(English lyrics by Walter Maynard)

Idle days in summertime,
In pleasant sunny weather,
Amid the golden colour'd corn,
Two lovers pass'd together.
There were words they did not speak
To give their thoughts expression;
Each knew the other's heart was full,
But neither made confession.

Winter came, and then, alas!
Came cold and dreary weather;
No more the lovers passed their days
Amid the fields together.
Fate had severed them apart,
And now they're brokenhearted;
Had they been wed in summertime,
They would not now be parted.
(From HERE, with midi)

THIS SITE has Welsh words, spoken Welsh audio, part audio [melody is on the tenor].

BUGEILIO'R GWENITH GWYN

Mi sydd fachgen ifanc ffôl,
Yn byw yn ôl fy ffansi,
Myfi'n bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn,
Ac arall yn ei fedi.

Pam na ddeui ar fy ôl,
Ryw ddydd ar ôl ei gilydd?
Gwaith rwy'n dy weld y feinir fach,
Yn lanach, lanach beunydd.

Glanach, glanach wyt bob dydd,
Neu fi sy â'm ffydd yn ffolach,
Er mwyn y gw+r a wnaeth dy wedd,
Dod im drugaredd (drugaredd) bellach.

Cwnn dy ben, gwêl acw draw,
Rho imi'th law wen dirion:
Gwaith yn dy fynwes bert ei thro
Mae allwedd clo fy nghalon.

Tra fo dw+r y môr yn hallt,
A thra fo 'ngwallt yn tyfu,
A thra fo calon dan fy mron,
Mi fyddai'n ffyddlon iti.

Dywed imi'r gwir heb gêl,
A rho dan sêl d'atebion (d'atebion),
P'un ai myfi, ai arall, Gwen,
Sydd orau gen dy galon.

Gwenith gwyn,
Bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn,
Bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn.

Background info: "Ann Thomas is better known as the Maid of Cefn Ydfa, a prosperous farm near Llangynwyd in the 1700's. She and Wil Hopcyn, a labourer, fell in love. Her widowed mother insisted that she marry Anthony Maddocks though. Maddocks was a wealthy young lawyer of a good family. This wonderfully tragic romance tells us much about class and parental authority in the rural Wales of that era. Heartbroken Wil Hopcyn wrote the famous Welsh love song 'Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn' (Watching the Blooming Wheat)." (From HERE)

~Masato