#bleddynwatdpoems

[ansicred]

Eisteddfod Y Caban (The Cabin's Eisteddfod) | a poem by Bleddyn.

This is a poem Bleddyn featured in his first poetry book Beth Am Yr Ysbryd? (What Of The Spirit?), which he recited on a TV feature for (the in-world version of) S4C that was filmed in Bangor Cathedral in the summer of 1993. It's written in the perspective of his father, based on stories he'd heard from other quarrymen about lunch hours in what's referred to as 'the cabin' - which is a room at Gilfach Ddu where the workers' would take their breaks/have lunch during the work day, where they'd often have debates, sing songs, recite poems, etc. to lift their spirits in the middle of a hard day's work and keep their morale up in spite of the gruelling, back-breaking work they'd have to go back to. He highlights the difference between the local village (mainland) lads and the lads who'd come over to work from Anglesey and how they had differences of opinion re: retirement dreams - while the island boys want to settle on farms or in the mountains, the mainland boys want to settle by sea, but both sides agree on songs, poems, family, beer, and chips being important for morale which Bleddyn finds funny. There is no actual English version of the poem in-world as he'd only written it in Welsh, I just translated it (however poorly that may be).

[ansicred]

Y Wylan Goll (The Missing Seagull) | a poem by Bleddyn.

Bleddyn wrote this a year before he left Gwalchmai to go to university in London as a tribute to his father - and to explore the feelings of grief and having grown into a young man without his father being in the picture since he was six years old. It's featured in his first poetry book Beth Am Yr Ysbryd? (What Of The Spirit?) and Bleddyn performed the Welsh version for a TV segment in Bangor's Cathedral. His father is the reason for Bleddyn's obsession with seagulls and the sea as imagery in his poetry, having used the code phrase 'the seagull's in its nest and the sea is calling' whenever he'd return home from work to denote that he'd arrived safely, as a symbol of safety in general, and as a reference to the lullaby Si Hei Lw, which Bleddyn still sings to his daughter Begw.

[ansicred]

Adlamu (Recoil) | a poem by Bleddyn.

Bleddyn wrote this immediately after he'd gone to bed following his argument with Nina the night he'd caught her in bed with Jonah. He just needed to get some of his immediate emotions/thoughts out or he wouldn't have been able to sleep that night and his best method for that? Poetry. I translated his poem into English as best I could - Google Translate is a bastard that is awful at translating!!

[ansicred]

Nina. | a poem by Bleddyn.

This is a poem Bleddyn wrote about Nina after they'd first met in a bar in London in late January 1981. To try and impress her on their first actual date (roughly a week later), he typed both the Welsh and the English versions out on his typewriter and put them in a Valentine's-themed card -- in which, he'd written: 'Would you be the orange to my apple? Blaidd (Awooo!) x' She adored the poems and kept them in a little decorative box full of other poems he'd written for her (on birthdays, Santes Dwynwens'/Valentines', anniversaries, etc.), alongside the cards he'd put them in. When she left Bleddyn, she'd also left the box behind and he hasn't had the heart to get rid of them.

[ansicred]

bechod (bless him) | a poem by Bleddyn

Bleddyn wrote this poem after he saw a fox in his back garden one evening and he was a bit disappointed that he didn't feel a similar way that R. Williams Parry did about seeing one - but Bleddyn is also aware of very, very old stories/superstitions regarding foxes being considered lucky creatures, so he fed the little starving fox and then he started wondering why it was a superstition in the first place. The English translation isn't great because I did it almost literally and on the fly (also Google Translate is not great). Also, fun fact: "bechod" can mean both 'bless them/him/her' and 'sin' (which is the literal definition).