Dafydd ap Gwilym: The Ruin (From Welsh)

The Ruin
By Dafydd ap Gwilym
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Battered hovel  bare-holed you stand
Between the moor  and meadowland
They sorrow who once  saw your prime
As a comely little  cottage of pastime
To see you a shattered  shack today
With ramshackle roof  and rafters agley.

Near your cheerful wall  there was a day 
I do recall — rebuke of pain — 
When you were more  merry inside
Than now, unsightly  little sty,
When I caught sight  (and sang bright praise)
In your good corner  of her gorgeous face. 
As lovely and noble  a lady as could be,
Shapely and lively  she lay with me
Each one's arm   (oh did I love her)
Knotted a bond   about the other
Her svelte arm fine  as snowflurry lingered 
To pillow the ear of her praise-singer
And (simplest of tricks) my own arm lay
At the cute left ear  of that courtwise maid.
Good times we had  in your greenwood heyday
But no, today  is not that day.

The Ruin Speaks:  

"With shelter's magic  moan I do 
Bewail the way  the wildwind blew.
Spawned of the east  a stormwind squall
Smacked the stones  of my slender wall.
On its wrathful path grim wind groaned 
From the south and turned me  out of a home."

The Poet Speaks  

"So it was the late wind wrought such riot?
Well, it gnashed the thatch  of your roof all night.
Ripped your lathing  like a leaf.
The world is always illusion and grief. 
Your corner which gives  me cause to cry
Was once our bed. Not a wildhog sty.
You stood that day  sturdy and stalwart
Snug above  my noble sweetheart
But clear and true   by Christ today 
You are ravished  of roof and doorway.
Some things cause instant  insanity
Is this smashed shack  sheer fantasy?"

The Ruin Speaks: 

"The household is gone with their livelihood  
To the grave, Dafydd. Their lives were good." 

The Original:

Yr Adfail

'Tydi, y bwth tinrhwth twn
Rhwng y gweundir a'r gwyndwn,
Gwae a'th weles, dygesynt,
Yn gyfannedd gyntedd gynt,
Ac a'th wŷl heddiw'n friw frig,
Dan dy ais yn dŷ ysig.

A hefyd ger dy hoywfur
Ef a fu ddydd, cerydd cur,
Ynod ydd oedd ddiddanach
Nog yr wyd, y gronglwyd grach,
Pan welais, pefr gludais glod,
Yn dy gongl, un deg yngod,
Forwyn, foneddigfwyn fu,
Hoywdwf yn ymgyhydu,
A braich pob un, cof un fydd,
Yn gwlm amgylch ei gilydd:
Braich meinir, briw awch manod,
Goris clust goreuwas clod,
A'm braich innau, somau syml,
Dan glust asw dyn glwys disyml.
Hawddfyd gan fasw i'th fraswydd,
A heddiw nid ydiw'r dydd'.

   'Ys mau gŵyn, gwirswyn gwersyllt,
Am hynt a wnaeth y gwynt gwyllt.
Ystorm o fynwes dwyrain
A wnaeth cur hyd y mur main.
Uchenaid gwynt, gerrynt gawdd,
Y deau a'm didyawdd'.

    'Ai'r gwynt a wnaeth helynt hwyr?
Da nithiodd dy do neithwyr.
Hagr y torres dy esyth.
Hudol enbyd yw'r byd byth.
Dy gongl, mau ddeongl ddwyoch,
Gwely ym oedd, nid gwâl moch.
Doe'r oeddud mewn gradd addwyn
Yn glyd uwchben fy myd mwyn.
Hawdd o ddadl, heddiw 'dd ydwyd,
Myn Pedr, heb na chledr na chlwyd.
Amryw bwnc ymwnc amwyll.
Ai hwn yw'r bwth twn bath twyll?'

'Aeth talm o waith y teulu,
Dafydd, â chroes. Da foes fu'.

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