Song Before the Sons of Llyr
Book of Taliesin XIV
I will adore the love-diffusing Lord of every kindred
The sovereign of hosts manifestly round the universe.
A battle at the feast over joyless beverage,
A battle against the sons of Llyr in Ebyr Henfelyn.
I saw the oppression of the tumult, and wrath and tribulation
The blades gleamed on the glittering helmets,
Against Brochwel of Powys, that loved my Awen.
A battle in the pleasant course early against Urien,
There falls about our feet blood on destruction.
Shall not my chair be defended from the cauldron of Cerridwen?
May my tongue be free in the sanctuary of the praise of Gogyrwen.
The praise of Gogyrwen is an oblation, which has satisfied
Them, with milk, and dew, and acorns.
Let us consider deeply before is heard confession,
That death is assuredly coming nearer and nearer.
And round the lands of Enlli the Dyfi has poured,
Raising the ships on the surface of the plain.
And let us call upon him that has made us,
That he may protect us from the wrath of the alien nation.
When the isle of Mona shall be called a pleasant field,
Happy be the mild ones, the affliciton of the Saxons.
I came to Deganwy to contend
With Maelgwn, the greatest in delinqencies,
I liberated my lord in the presence of the distributor.
Elphin, the sovereign of greatly aspiring ones.
There are to me three chiars regular, accordant,
And until doom they will continue with the singers.
I have been in the battle of Godeu, with Lleu and Gwydion,
They changed the form of the elementary trees and sedges.
I have been with Bran in Ireland.
I saw when Morddwydtyllon was killed.
I hears a meeting about the minstrels,
With the Gaels, devils, distillers.
From Penryn Wleth to Loch Reon
The Cymry are of one mind, bold heroes.
Deliver you the Cymry in tribulation.
Three races, cruel from true disposition,
Gael, Briton, and Roman,
Create discord and confusion.
And about the boundary of Prydein, beautiful its towns,
There is a battle against the chiefs above the mead-vessels.
In the festivals of the Distriubutor, who bestowed gifts upon me.
The chief astrologers received wonderful gifts.
Complete is my chair in Caer Siddi,
No one will be afflicted with disease or old age that may be in it.
Manawyddan and Pryderi know it.
Three utterances, around the fire, will he sing before it,
And around its borders are the streams of the ocean.
And the fruitful fountain is above it,
The liquor Is sweeter than white wine.
And when I shall have worshipped you, Most High, before the sod,
May I be foudn in the convenant with You.
This poem, attributed to
Taliesin, makes a good deal of references to the
Mabinogion proper, the
Four Branches of the Mabinogi, dealing with
Pryderi,
Manawyddan ap Llyr,
Bran and
Branwen, and
Gwydion. It mentions the
Cad Goddeu--the Battle of the Trees, which is another poem from this book, and
Caer Siddi, the mythical city of the
Cauldron of Annwn in the
Prieddu Annwn, another poem from this book. It's a cobbling together of several mythological themes--the Cauldron of Cerridwen, the Cauldron of Bran, the Cauldron of Annwn; the battles between the
Children of Don and the
Children of Llyr, and the
inspiration that the
bard recieves from the
Most High.