> Can anyone help with the translation of the Song Lawr ar Lan y Mor. ( or even just give a description of what the song is about). Also can anyone translate "Sospan Fach"
> Many ThanksHere are two versions. The title is "Ar Lan y Môr. The first is from Bryn Terfel's CD booklet. The second is from "Songs of the Dragon".
(On the Seashore)
On the seashore are red roses
on the seashore are white lilies
on the seashore is my darling
who sleeps at night and wakes by morning.
On the seashore is a flat stone
where I exchanged a word with my sweetheart;
around this stone grows the lily
and a few sprigs of rosemary.
On the seashore and blue stones,
on the seashore are the flowers of youth
On the seashore are all mode of virtues;
on the seashore is my own sweetheart.
Second version:
Beside the sea there are red roses;
Beside the sea there're lovely lilies;
Beside the sea my sweetheart lives,
Asleep at night, awake at morning.
Cold is the frost and cold the snowball,
Cold the house without fire in winter
Cold is the church without a vicar.
Cold am I also without my lover.
Yonder's the home and yonder the building
Where I've spent many a happy evening
In the loft there above the kitchen
With the girl with the yellow ribbon.
I've a cow with two horns of silver
I've a cow milks herself on her own.
I've a cow that fills the pails up
Just like the sea which fills the seashore.
Quite a difference, isn't there? If the reading of these is a bit clumsy, we must remember that the translators were trying to make English words fit to a Welsh song.
I hope this helps? Hazel