Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

Over several game plays
To prove it could be done
I asked dear MidnightMedic
To try my native tongue.

I helped her with the double 'l's,
I helped her with the 'd's,
I taught her that a single 'f'
Sounds like an English 'v'.

The double 'd' becomes 'th' you see,
Double 'f' is like your 'f',
I think we conquered all of these,
I hope it was enough.

And now she knows the longest word,
It's not difficult to say,
But her friends had better take great care
To avoid the snot and spray.

The 'l's can drown your dopey dog
Or your unsuspecting cat,
Put your budgie in a plastic mac
With a lovely little hat.

Y Ddraig Goch is a fearsome beast,
He has a breath of 'cân',
But MM can drown a flock of sheep
When she sings 'Calon Lân'.

By me.

The Irish song, 'A Nation Once Again' by Thomas Osbourne Davis was the inspiration for the following:

Yn fachgen brwd a ’ngwaed ar dân,
Darllenais hanes cywrain
Tri chant a thri o arwyr glân
Fu’n gwarchod Groeg a Rhufain;
Ac yna rhoddais weddi daer
Cawn eto weld y dydd
Y chwalem furiau’r estron gaer
A dod yn Gymru rydd.


Daw Cymru’n Gymru Rydd
Daw Cymru’n Gymru Rydd
’Rôl byw yn hir dan estron gaer
Daw Cymru’n Gymru Rydd

Mor ddisglair drwy’r holl ddyddiau blin
Fu’r gobaith pell am ryddid,
Na allai serch a’i decaf rhin
Ragori ar ei lendid;
Fy ngwylio wnâi mewn llys a llan
Ac yn y maes liw dydd,
Pan gysgwn, canai ’gylch y fan ’
Daw Cymru’n Gymru rydd!

Ond nod aruchel, sanctaidd, hardd
Yw gwasanaethu rhyddid;
A gallai nwyd o isel radd
Amharu ar ei lendid;
Daw rhyddid o ddeheulaw Duw
A’i sail a’ sêl yw’r ffydd,
Drwy Gymry da caiff Cymru fyw
A dod yn Gymru rydd.

Fy unig sêl wrth ddod i oed
Oedd brwydro dros ei rhyddid,
A meithrin ysbryd, yn ddioed
Sy’n rhydd o bob aflendid;
Drwy fyw’n lân gobeithio’n wir
Caf godi ’ngwlad ryw dydd -
Nid ofer dweud, rôl caethglud hir
Bydd Cymru’n Gymru rydd!

Every dragon 'round these parts
Breathes a breath of flame.
But I can't even blow a spark
Which brings me grief and shame.
The other dragons often tease.
They jeer and sneer and shout
Cos every time I take a breath
I'm breathing hot dogs out.
Hot dogs when I blow my nose.
Hot dogs when I snore.
Hot dogs when I go achoo.
Hot dogs when I roar.
I lived a life of misery,
Agony, and woe,
Until I met a boy dragon.
Our friendship seemed to grow.
I said to him one starry night,
"I love you dear the most."
We sighed a gentle sigh together
And had a hot dog roast.

To be born in Wales,
Not with a silver spoon in your mouth
But, with music in your blood
And with poetry in your soul,
Is a privilige indeed.

Your inheritance is a land of Legend,
Of love and contrast
A land of beauty so bright it burns the eyes.
Of ugliness that scars the Spirit
As the Earth.

Wales is an old land with wounds
That weep in hills.
They wept before in the bodies of men
And in the hearts of women
And time will never heal them.

The stigmata of sorrow,
Of pain and poverty,
Of lonely crucifixtion in the dark,
Remain our lives to feed.

The Land of our Fathers was built on coal,
It's rivers of mingled blood and sweat
Have forever darkened it,
Relieved only by death.

We are a sad people,
Our sadness being wrapped in harps and music
And praise to God
For the lovely, yearning light
That feeds the Spirit as well as the eyes.

..................

In grandmother's house
The shiny kettle hissed on the hob,
Ready and warm,
A Welsh welcome.
A fire that never goes out.

Grandmother, family-proud and so of house,
With hob black-leaded,
Glistening like a raven's wings
And brass like gold
Untarnished.

Her kitchen smelling of oilcloth
And beeswax and Brasso
The Welsh-dresser and chemille-plush
And white china dogs, like sentinels
Guarding the mantlepiece.

A Bible used so much it never needed dusting,
A rocking chair that moves
In silent motion, beholding
The Dad no longer there.

But there was always love
To wash around you like a healing tide
To cleanse the sore places,
Childish sorrows and tremulous tears.

To her the Welsh are bound,
A matriarchal Nation,
The umbilical cord that's ne'er severed
As we span our Earthly lives.

......................

There are preachers, aged men
With salvation in their souls
And Hell-fire damnation
In their breath.

The Welsh are a nation of preachers,
Of minstrels and bards,
Of night-shirted Druids
With mistletoe in their hair.

Reverent of learning and education
As an escape from the darkness
Of the mind and of the Pits
That collier's compass.

.......................

To be a child in Wales
Is to be a child in Paradise.
The mountains worn smooth by timeless backsides
Covered in serge-suiting that shines like polished glass.

With lairs where foxes live.
Streams so clear and cold
They freeze your blood as if to ice
And glow your cheeks.

Her rivers rusted with slime and bedsprings
And with tins that caught minnows,
Ferns that crackel underfoot
Where Adders live.

There are Welsh babies snug in flannel.
Chapels with encrusted tombstones
With leaves and moss.
Shiny black Bibles bound in Brass.

-- I can't remember the author ---

It looks good to me! I don't know what Menna Elfyn would make of her poetry in English though!

BLOEDDIER I BOBLOEDD Y BYD

A sylwoch mor ddiamser
yw dyn wrth ddod at iaith newydd?
Bydd, fe fydd yn baglu dros gytseiniaid,
yn gohirio llafariaid,
yn gwisgo holl arfogaeth ei ddyhead
am fuddugoliaeth dros fynegiant.
A bydd, fe fydd ei dafod
fel baban bach ar ei ben ôl.

Felly, bydded i bob un o genhedloedd byd
ddysgu iaith esgymun ei gymydog.
Ie, cropian a chwrian mewn corneli,
colli cwsg wrth ei thrwsglo;
cans fel hyn y daw dileu yr amserau.
Ni ddaw'r gorffennol yn rhwydd ar dafod.
Erys iaith heddiw. Bydd yn ddeiseb hedd –
gan dynnu i lawr yr holl ferfau pigog;
ni fyd yr amherffaith mor berffaith
a phan nad yw.

A bydd agen, hollt a rhwyg
yn cael eu cyfrannu'n geg agored.
Pob newydd ddysgwr â chof
am gyweirio cystrawennau
cyfod o'i wely, unioni llef.

Ni fydd amser i ledu llid,
cans bydd llwythau wedi eu llethu
â chyfoeth yr holl gerrig arloesi.

A thrwy'r babanod yn Babel bydd iau
wedi ei chodi a'r Uniaith yn iachâu
wrth ymryddhau, rhyddhau wrth hau.