Huw Meirion Edwards: Lullaby (From Welsh)

Lullaby
By Huw Meirion Edwards
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Click to hear me recite the original in Welsh

Rock-a-bye baby. It's us and the night.
Rock-a-bye stars and rock-a-bye light.
Now there is nothing left in our reach
Except for the waves that cleanse this beach.

It's us and stars and the miles of sea
Calling up at you and me,
And the lullaby that I recite
Like one long elegy tonight.

It's us and stars that freeze and scrape
And the night of frigid rape
In your blood and in your face:
A yesterday that stays and stays.

Yesterday has locked today.
The womb must seal its scars away.
The cradle of your mother's womb
Must soon become your comfy tomb.

In all your fragility
Child of error, pardon me.
Pardon the sin whose weight I bear
In the name of the flesh we share.

Hush little baby, don't say a word.
It's too late, too cold to be heard.
Tonight we're nobody. A wave
Shall be our cradle and our grave.

The Original:

Hwiangerdd

Si hei lwli, ni a'r nos
Sy rhagor, a'r sêr agos,
A dim o'n blaenau ni'n dau
Ond atyniad y tonnau.

Ni a'r sêr, a'r dyfnder du
Odanom yn ein denu
Suo-gân ei drwmgwsg o
Yn un alargan heno

Ni a'r sêr bradwrus, oer,
A nos y treisio iasoer
Yn dy waed ac yn dy wedd,
Yn ddoe heb iddo ddiwedd.

Ddoe'n y cof am heddiw'n cau,
A chroth yn cuddio'i chreithiau.
Hon, y groth sydd heno'n grud,
Fydd havan dy fedd hefyd.

Yn dy holl eiddilwch di,
Yn ddamwain, maddau imi.
Maddau im y camwedd hwn
Yn enw'r cnawd a rannwn.

Si hei lwli, 'mabi, mae'n
Rhy oer, rhy hwyr i eiriau.
Heno'n neb yr hunwn ni
A'r don yn feddrod inni.