Mike Jenkins - Welsh Poet & Author
  • Mike's Blog
  • New Book!
  • About Mike
  • Contact
  • What's the point?
  • The Climbing Tree
  • The Fugitive Three
  • Publications
  • Red Poets

Dysgu Cymraeg : looking for the river

12/8/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
   If Welsh is water, then English is stone.
   That is not meant to decry one or the other, as I love both. After all, I grew up clambering and climbing over one and trying to swim in the other.
   They have their singular qualities and attempting to make one element into another requires more than shape-shifting.
   Welsh mutates according to all manner of grammatical situations, has multifarious ways of saying 'yes ' and 'no' and the vast majority of nouns are either masculine or feminine ( some are cross-gender).
   English changes like a massive sculpture which is being carved into forms and also graffitied upon by the popular imagination.
   Now I know what is meant by the saying 'croesi'r bont' as a sign of progress in Cymraeg ; yet I keep seeing the river but not the bridge itself, apparently made of wood not stone.
   Maybe I went over in a dream?
   One time in a local shop a man I knew from the past was cracking a joke at the expense of Welsh.
   Referring to a newspaper crossword he said - ' I had this clue. Dead language, five letters. I wrote Welsh, even though it was Latin!'
    I was incensed and ranted at him about how everyone should learn. Now, whenever I see him I deliberately greet him with 'Shwmae!'
    I can understand when people say it shouldn't be a badge of nationality; it's a strong argument for a bi-lingual country.
   Yet, because learning is a matter of choice I do strongly believe that it's fundamental in making a connection with our past, culture and literature, not to mention a thriving culture today in television, theatre and music.
   I began learning far too long ago, attended evening classes and was left along a footpath with few signs by my wife, who strode on ahead to get A Level and a Diploma. As a Gaelic-speaker , she knew the right direction.
   I kept it up over the years and especially enjoyed the classes at the old snooker club the Scala, with Phil Meaker as 'tiwtor' and, later, in the local pub with Rob Hughes, who insisted on speaking Welsh at all times.
   I miss former  Chair of Cymdeithas Jamie Bevan, who did the same and whose experience should be shared in every school in the land; as he was someone who rebelled against it at his Welsh-medium Comp, then moved to England and fully realised its worth.
   I never really glimpsed the flow of water, never mind the crossing-point.
   For a whole decade I simply didn't have the time to attend lessons and paid the price.
   I became a 'lapsed learner' and , as my two oldest children progressed through Welsh-language schools and my wife chatted readily in Welsh, I stood on some outcrop peering into the distance.
   With early retirement I vowed to take on the three W's : Welsh, writing
( blogs) and walking. 
   I should really be writing blogs in Welsh about walking, but it hasn't all worked out!
   I realise that the 'hyder' (confidence) has gradually increased and also, that I don't possess the total single-mindedness of other learners, who devote much of their time to it.
   As well as conversation, two things are vital to me : writing poetry in Welsh and tackling my latest project , the translation of Myrddin ap Dafydd's 'baledi' for a book, a genuine challenge given their strict rhyming structures.
   The poetry-writing comes sporadically, but last week I completed two : one about standing at a bus-stop in Aberfan and the other a supposedly 'doniol' (funny) one about a character called Dafydd ap Treiglo, who is constantly shape-shifting.
   In Welsh, I find myself writing in couplets at times, while I'd never do so in English. I'm beginning to wonder if it's because the poems are  naff!
   Learning Welsh can be so rewarding!
   I'm listening again to songs by Meic Stevens, Steve Eaves and Fflur Dafydd and discovering so much I missed in the past.
    I even watch documentaries on S4C without the sub-titles. However, it doesn't qualify me for comprehending an interview with Super Furries' Gruff Rhys.
   Sometimes it's like I'm abandoned on the river in a coracle, going round in circles.
   Then I write a poem, or just have a simple conversation and I feel myself stepping over.

   This is a recent one, which failed to win the Caerffili Eisteddfod. Perhaps I took a liberty, as the subject was 'Arwr' ( hero).  


                                         ARWRES
 
Y ferch hon yw cyffredin ac arbennig,
Curiad y teulu, llaw a cheg.
 
 
Y ferch sy’n gyrru’r tacsi bob dydd,
Helpu pan o’t ti’n cwympo ar y stryd.
 
 
Y ferch sy’n wrando ar bob gair,
Hwyr  y nos a chynnar y bore.
 
 
Y ferch sy’n dy gefnogi di yn y cae
Pan nad wyt ti’n gallu chwarae.
 
 
Y ferch sy’n nyrs, cogydd ac athrawes,
Dy hen ffrind, gofalwraig mor gynnes.
 
 
Y ferch sy’n caru heb gwestiwn
Drwy’r tymor peryglus llais ar y ffon.
 
 
Fel anrhegion, wedi rhoi ei hamser a’i phres,
Siwr y fod, mae hi’n  arwres.


                                            HEROINE

This woman's ordinary and special,
rhythm of the family, hand and mouth.

A taxi-driver every single day,
helped you up whenever you fell.

A woman who listens to every word
late at night or early in the morning.

A woman supporting when you play,
even if things go awry. 

A woman who is nurse, cook and teacher,
an old friend, a warm carer.

A woman who loves without question
through tough times, a voice on the phone.

Giving gifts of her money and time,
she is indeed a heroine.
 

( translated by the author)


 
1 Comment
menna elfyn link
12/8/2016 09:31:33 am

erthygl ardderchog Mike a gymaint o syniadau da yma.
A cherdd wych hefyd --- arwres -- edrych ymlaen at ddarllen rhagor yn Gymraeg!
Pob hwyl
Menna

Reply



Leave a Reply.



    Archives

    November 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from johnharveypegg, Dai Lygad, joncandy, victoriapeckham, David Holt London, aeneastudio, fromthevalleys-, Metro Centric, andymag, David Bergin Photography, villunderlondon, @markheybo, joncandy, Martin Pettitt, Between the Shadows, joncandy, johnkell, olivia.barrie, villunderlondon, Lake Worth, MittenStatePhototog, frankieleon, robynejay, joncandy, mcaretaker, Thomas Leuthard, Knight Foundation, joncandy, Joybot, brownpau, Iburiedpaul, villunderlondon, amit_gaur, abegum, simonw92, beeveephoto, Aislinn Ritchie, Shannon Green Photography, joncandy, Nick J Webb, Vish Menon, AberCJ, gcoldironjr2003, joncandy, World Can't Wait, jonl1973, Watt_Dabney, petejam70, Kerndav, MJ Klaver, joncandy, Daquella manera, spratt504, joncandy, ashleigh290, Glyn Lowe Photoworks., afanatochka, r.nial.bradshaw, themendingnews, rikkis_refuge, Matthew Straubmuller, joncandy, onnola, final gather, funktionhouse, marioanima, joncandy, Dai Lygad, joncandy, Guttorm Flatabø, brittreints, garryknight, villunderlondon, wonker, Martin Pettitt, joncandy, tnarik, AJC1, simonw92, wardyboy400, joncandy, Bombardier, joncandy, Cargo Cult, joncandy, joncandy, SeanOConnor2010, Feral78, comedy_nose, Abode of Chaos, mkairishstudies, joncandy, avail, Jörg Weingrill, Gwydion M. Williams, Leshaines123, KiltBear, eisenbahner, Capt' Gorgeous, Francis Storr, New Chemical History, Matthew Black, jc.winkler, Gwenael Kere, Karen Roe