gwen

this rendition of the welsh folk song ar lan y môr (beside the sea) by catrin o'neill is my favorite recording i've found. i've been saving it for the last wmw for a couple weeks now

the lyrics can be found here in this post by kieren windsor in both welsh and english, but i'll copy out the english translation

Beside the sea are red roses,
Beside the sea are white lilies,
Beside the sea is my love,
Sleeping the night and waking (in) the morning.

Beside the sea is an even stone
Where I spoke with my love
Around it will grow the lily
And the odd branch of rosemary

Beside the sea are blue pebbles
Beside the sea are the sons’ flowers
Beside the sea are all the virtues
Beside the sea is my love

Full is the sea of sand and rocks
Full is the egg of white and yellow
Full is the woods of leaves and flowers
Full of the love of a girl am I

So beautiful the sun rising the morning
So beautiful the rainbow full of colours
So beautiful is nature in June
But even more beautiful is face of Elin

So I tried to find the lyrics for "Llatai," by the Welsh folk band Fernhill, but unfortunately I could not, and my extremely limited knowledge of Welsh is far insufficient to transcribe it, much less translate it. However, I do recognize the song's title, "llatai," which translates into English as "love-messenger" and is both a poetic genre and the subject of that genre. The poet will describe and address, through metaphor and riddle, the messenger, often a bird, which is to bear a message to their love. Though technically a genre of love poems, the beloved need not even be named; the focus is on the llatai, the messenger, and the message it is to bear.

edit: a bunch of this song is in french lol