Canu Taliesin VI
This Taliesin poem (in modern Welsh called Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain) tells of an early victory for the British led by King Urien and his son, Owain, against the invading Angles under Fflamddwyn.
Original Text
Gỽeith Argoet Llỽyfein. Kanu Uryen
E bore duw Sadwrn kat vawr a vu
O’r pan dwyre heul hyt pan gynnu.
Dygrysswys Flamdwyn yn petwar llu,
Godeu a Reget y ymdullu.
Dyvwy o Argoet hyt Arvynyd:
Ny cheffynt eiryos hyt yr un dyd.
Atorewis Flamdwyn vawr trebystawt:
A dodynt yg gwystlon, a ynt parawt
Ys attebwys Owein, dwyrein ffossawt:
Nyt dodynt, nyt ydynt, nyt ynt parawt;
A Cheneu vab Coel, bydei kymwyawc,
Lew, kyn as talei wystyl nebawt.
Atorelwis Uryen, Ud Yrechwyd:
O byd ymgyfarvot am gerenhyd,
Dyrchafwn eidoed oduch mynyd,
Ac amporthwn wyneb oduch emyl,
A dyrchafwn peleidyr oduch pen gwyr,
A chyrchwn Fflamdwyn yn y luyd,
A lladwn ac ef aw gyweithyd.
A rac gweith Argoet Llwyfein
Bu llawer celein
Rudei vrein rac ryfel gwyr
A gwerin a grysswys, gan einewyd,
Arinaf y blwydyn nat wy kynnyd.
Translation
The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain. A Song of Urien
In the morning of Saturday there was a great battle
From when the sun rose till when it set.
Fflamddwyn marched in four hosts,
To fight against Goddau and Rheged.
He came from Argoed to Arfynydd:
They did not get to remain for that one day.
Fflamddwyn of great bluster exclaimed:
Would they give hostages, are they prepared?
Owain answered him, rising to the challenge:
They would not give, they are not, they are not prepared;
And Cenau, son of Coel, would have suffered torture,
Valiantly, before he would pay anyone as hostage
Urien, Lord of Erechwydd*, exlaimed:
If it must be a battle for kith and kin,
Let us raise lines above the mountain,
Let us hold our faces above the edge,
Let us raise spears above the heads of men,
Let us attack Fflamddwyn in his hosts,
And let us kill both him and his company.
And before Llwyfain Wood
There was many a corpse
Ravens were red with the blood of men
And the men who charged, the minstrel shall sing,
For many a year, the song of their victory.
~ J. Morris-Jones (1918) Taliesin