Here are the words to the Welsh song we played last night at the Worldwide Zoom.

It is to the poet Ellis Evans, whose bardic name was Hedd Wyn, meaning Sacred Peace (or White Peace, or Blessed Peace – in Welsh every word has several meanings depending on context).
He lived in Trawsfynydd and died at the Battle of Pilkem Ridge in 1917, aged 30. A week later he was announced winner of the Bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod, and a black cloth was draped over his chair in his honour.

Hedd Wyn (Wikipedia article)

CÂN Y BUGAIL (Welsh) (gan Gerint Jarman a Meic Stephens) Mae cwmwl y Cadair Idris Mae cychod ar Lyn y Bala Y gwynt sy’n chwythu dros Berwyn mawr. Mae’n chwythu mor ysmala. Cytgan:         Ond dydy bugail ddim ar y bryniau mwy,         Fe eith ymaith o Drawsfynydd.         Wedi mynd mae Bardd y Cadair Ddu         I ymlaidd yn y ffosydd. Yn Aberdyfi, mae’r môr yn las. Y tonnau tal o’r traethau. Ac yn a caeau, y ffermwyr sydd Yn gweithio trwy’r tymhorau. Yn Ffestiniog, chwarelwyr sydd. Ond does dim gwaith yn galw. Ac yn Nhrwawsfynydd, ar lan y llyn, Mae’r wyn yn araf farw.

SONG OF THE SHEPHERD (by Gerint Jarman and Meic Stephens) A cloud lies on Cadair Idris There are boats on the lake at Bala The winds blows over the high Berwyn It blows so lightly. Chorus:         But the shepherd is no longer on the hills         He went away from Trawsfynydd         Gone is the Bard of the Black Chair         To fight in the trenches. At Aberdyfi the sea is blue The tall waves from the beaches And in the fields are the farmers Working throughout the season. In Ffestiniog there are quarrymen But no jobs are calling on them And in Trawsfynydd, on the lake shore The lambs are slowly dying.

Splott Man

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