¹ May God grant me, in the blessed coming of night,
inspiration with the breeze when daybreak comes;
may my zeal be fluent according to the law of poetry.

² A poem of praise to Dewi, twice as great;
a mead-horn is not owed to fine drunken men.
The bard who does not know him — that is what you sing.
It is not he whom I sing with an unmindful mind,

³ but rather I shall fashion a skilful poem.
I shall sing more before old age comes:
a song to great Dewi, and praise to the saints.
The wise son of Sant, mighty against the oppression of disease, does not allow it,

⁴ nor theft to pass as favour, the snare of enemies.
There is grace in his land, and goodness and abundance,
in Dewi’s realm, with blameless kinsmen,
and freedom without grief, without need to ask for anything else,

⁵ without fear of quarrel around his uplands,
unless it be a wolf and a raid through his wild places,
or until rutting deer run their course.
He accepted suffering devoutly for God’s sake,

⁶ on wave and rock, and kept his privilege,
and journeyed to Rome, the region of pardon,
and lodged in Efrei, a matchless hardship,
and endured a slap, a mighty blow with the fist,
from an unclean maiden, merciless of teeth.
The sacred lord took vengeance for the ruler of Dyfed;
those who were not slain were burned; hosts were struck down.
He raised up the white hill of royal privilege
in the sight of seven thousand seven score great ones;
a taking hold, a receiving from hosts of guests.
Dewi raised up Brefi and its privilege;
its privilege, according to his intent, stands royally.

⁷ And he is called free and princely;
over the land of Ireland his grace is shared;
the South is his, and Pebidiog,
and the peoples of Wales he draws to himself.

⁸ And with freedom in hand, wholly journeying,
while he goes to meet the famed and honoured one,
Patrick and his hosts, multiplying in number;
and he will stand against us, since he did not fear,
through the mercy of God upon the merciful.
Whoever loves Dewi, the good protector,
whoever follows and loves him as a beloved one,
whoever loves as Dewi did — in two words, let there not be

⁹ either hatred, or wrath, or thieving harm.
Whoever loves Dewi without oppression,
let him love the full, abundant Mass.
Whoever loves Dewi, good companion,
let him love deliverance and generosity.
Whoever loves Dewi as a wise unfailing one,

¹⁰ he has been called excellent and powerful.
Dewi’s two oxen, two most remarkable ones,
laid their necks beneath the yoke of the cart.
Dewi’s two oxen were most exalted.

¹¹ Two carts they drew together, laden with timber;
the escort of the gift was swift-running.
To Glascwm it was not heavy, three strong burdens.
Bangu was left with dear chains;
and two others, excellent, to tend the oxen.
When distress comes upon us, we shall not fear [Psalm 23:4],
before the oppression of mighty men, crushing in battle.
With God and Dewi, two protectors,
we shall be able to be steadfast and secure.
Amen.

¹² I shall be privileged for ever when I come there.

¹³ There will be nothing in their land that I shall dread.
I shall see noble priests whom I shall sing of;
I shall sing their praise wherever I come.
I shall see true men wholly filled with great joy.

¹⁴ And a cloth above the altar, without the power of sickness;
I have seen them at the evening hour, high their rank,
and women, maidens, those whom I love.
I have seen blue-green and gold, adorned and generous ones.

¹⁵ Among the blessed wise ones I have come;
in the parish of Llan Dewi, a place I shall praise.
I shall receive honour before I ask for it,
and on the Creator’s side I am fearless;
and under Dewi’s protection I shall escape,
and I shall make amends for wrong, for serious fault.

¹⁶ For God and Dewi I shall amend myself,
for what Dewi can do, I cannot do.
Let intercession be made for me for what I ask;
I ask for a gift rightly, and I am beloved.

¹⁷ For God and Dewi I shall amend myself,
for what Dewi can do, I cannot do.
Let intercession be made for me for what I ask;
I ask for a gift rightly, and I am beloved.

¹⁸ To the prayer, my lord, of free kindred;
to God, creator of heaven, lordly ruler,
and to blessed Dewi after the Creator;
great Dewi of Mynyw, wise and divinely favoured,
and Dewi of Brefi, near the borderland,
and Dewi who owns proud Llan Gyfelach.

¹⁹ Where there is Morach and great devotion,
and Dewi who owns Bangeibyr yssyt,
Meidrym, the place where his burial-ground was multiplied,
and Bangor Esgor and Bangeibyr Henllan.

²⁰ There is Cloduan, where you are sheltered;
and Maenor Deifi, unsurpassed,
and Aber Gwili belongs to the grave saint,
and fair Henfynyw, beside the bank of Aeron.

²¹ Hyfaes of the pleasant fields, rich in woods;
Llanarth, Llan Adneu, Llanneu Llywyd;
Llangadog, where privilege, sharing, and freedom are bestowed;
war does not ravage Llanfaes, the high place,

²² nor the church in Llywel, by any host.
Garth Bryngi, Dewi’s hill, unashamed;
and Trallwng Cynfyn beside the meadows,
and Llan Dewi y Crwys, newly founded,
and Glascwm with its church beside the green mountain.
A high place of refuge; protection is not denied.
Fair Creig Ffwrnais, here fair in the mountain,
and Ystrad Ffinnid with its freedom and privilege:
God the Lord gave them purpose, from praising him.

²³ Dewi on a hillside hill of joy,
great excellence above the ground, before multitudes;
chief refuge of the nation, faith and baptism;
and around him, around his fields,
the generous and the kindly, and the warmth of farmsteads,
and people, and wine, and strong drinks,
and triumph, deliverance, and the hue of gladness.
The race of Daniel is exalted in their likeness;
there is none preserving age, and custom, and dignity.
The race of Maryed is magnificent in their sweetness;
each deep, brave one is better than another.
And Dewi will protect us, will defend us;
his miracle will save us from every want,
and Dewi will shield us from disease, kindred, and sin.

²⁴ In the field, in the broad plain, judgement will come;
and Dewi made it, a man of blessed life.
The son Magna, alive and dead, foretold it,
and Dewi saw it in its freedom,
like the same colour as the sun, splendid in its course.
There is with Dewi good fellowship,
for weak and strong, and the keeping of poets;
and to him belongs, as to the blessed,
the blessed men of Brefi in its borderland,
for composing a fine song, a noble gift for the generous one.

²⁵ I sought protection; I shall obtain peace
by going to Brefi, the privilege of flight.
This is my defence, glad with much stillness:
to praise Dewi, good Welshman, eloquently,
with mind and breast, with sweet poetry,
with poetry fashioned in an additional form,
to Brefi and to Dewi, wise Welshman.
Safe is his protection for whoever seeks him.

²⁶ Safe is his land, without falsehood;
before Dewi’s relics the Greeks tremble,
and Ireland, kindly, the land of the Gaels.
If we love him rightly, eloquently,
as far as the Tywi, noble and fair river,
from Llyn Du, where wrath was far extended,
as far as Twrch, boundary of land rock,
the poets came to Dewi of the South.

²⁷ To avenge, like a pure one, the carrying off of the cattle,
they came to Dewi in the south,
with God’s support and human support, without delay.
They came to Dewi, fair protector;
great Rhys of Môn, princely lord, giver of gifts.
I have ceased to assert this with proud boasting.

²⁸ The immeasurable power can give,
with free graces belonging to the bards who praise him,
both learning and books and a cloth of silk,
when the Frank came from France to ask
for health against disease, against the sickness of blindness.
A silent covering over the face: you see nothing.
She gazed and looked through Dewi’s being:
the daughter of the king of the East came wisely to Brefi,
with form and deliverance together with her,
on hearing the goodness and destiny of Dewi.
Whoever goes, in the truth and innocence of his life,
to Medrawd, the burial-ground of Dewi,
will not go into hell, to suffer in Pengwern.
And Paulinus every day in Gorllewin
sought protection, and it was feared.
The people could not bring deliverance to you,
until true Dewi delivered you.
And birds that awaited him would wait for no one except Dewi;
and he brought them all, without losing them,
into one great barn, filling the floor.
When war and the rage of the Picts come,
every hidden place over the face of the earth calls on Dewi.
And Dewi, most worthy, performed mighty works.
There was hope a hundred times before he was born,
sent to him, unstained in honour,
from fair heaven, a gracious guest.
A fair altar — no man can look upon it.
He commands additional power and devotion.
Believe, and listen; keep Dewi
in your hand, and the host of the world will be with you.
Before the golden staff at his head, flee from it,
as from fierce fire: God’s witness struck for you.
His mighty arm, and his white, most high hill,
and a fair stone above wave and ocean,
God brought and made increase by transforming it,
so that in his land there should be no privilege or dignity
except three months in full abundance to fill it.
Whoever God wishes to come will praise him for ever;
whoever wants protection, let him seek Dewi.
I shall praise God for intercession for me.

²⁹ I can do nothing without God the Trinity;
Dewi, in his sanctuary, in the portion of freedom,
and in his protection, Dewi’s deliverance.
Great Dewi, often invoked upon the sea,
has been called upon on land against evil deeds.
And a feast for Dewi, a feast of giving,
above every saint, mighty, faultless, excellent;
and Dewi led it beyond the world’s covering.

³⁰ Upon blessed saints, blessed destiny;
and to Mynyw I went, to the farthest part of Dyfed,
and princes went there with princely tribute,
to the son of Non, noble-breasted, easy to praise,
and Dewi son of Sant, foundation of the nation.
Great Dewi of Mynyw, good to look,
chief over the nation in baptism, faith, and belief.
He did not gather up; he gave the grace of a generous ruler.

³¹ Armour and clothing, good and precious things,
could not be obtained from a lord, nor from his mouth;
no answer would be received except miracles.
A wondrous answer, bold, renowned, to the singer.

³² Mighty worker of miracles, rightful lord, husband of ordinances:
if there came a heavy fleet, heavy in its words,
seeking to take plunder from the Welsh,
between Mynyw and the great sea with its turns,
and if they were upon their host at the bright day’s hue,
they would lose their eyes and their souls;
they would not see either tide or their ships.
And they take counsel with messengers
to bring him fierce tribute.
The third plague of Ireland was certainly misfortune;
three descents upon Mynyw — Mynyw is his own.
He shaped, ordered, and defended the ordinances;
they surrounded, they rejoiced, the best of hosts.
Because of Boia’s hostility, it was beyond doubt:
he came to Mynyw, wise in understanding.
Devilry was attempted — worse were their deeds;
what was desired could not be done: they failed.
He sent women, his wanton women,
some serving-girls, naked, who became mad.
In payment for their assault, with a miracle and a golden one,
they roamed with the wind on the path of death.
Patrick left it through a flood of tears,
a slab-full of eloquent, kindly, renowned tears,
when he went to Ireland, he too, by miracle,
and an angel before him, there beyond the waves;
and God entrusted Mynyw to Dewi.

³³ Before his birth, kingly were his wonders,
when the generous one preached the best sermon.
Like a horn his bright words were heard,
before a stalk would fall upon hills from heaven.
Heaven would leave it from his hands;
it would not fall to the wide earth, for miles around,
except upon a noble man, where they sounded.
And Dewi was chief among the leaders,
and God knew his customs,
and he was highest from the beginning of the world.

³⁴ And they also journeyed together with us.
Dewi protected his churches;
he prevailed against the oppression of mighty relics,
and Dewi’s spring, with its full fountains.

³⁵ Many a gracious one, fruitful in minds;
and the track of his horse, and his own track after it,
the stone knows them, where they both are,
there upon the bright, high white hill.

³⁶ By avoiding evil and evil deeds,
by honouring and revering the benches of honour,
in church, and in assembly, and by candlelight,
there is fellowship among companions,
and loving God is stronger than lordships;
there is one chief, one honour for humanity.

³⁷ There is one headship, one chief authority;
there is a gentle bishop above Dewi’s altars.

³⁸ Five altars of Brefi, a privilege for the saints;
and to praise Dewi I came to the South.
May wise Môn hear me, and listen to me.

³⁹ The man whom I praise is truly glorious:
he did neither worse nor hostile deeds,
but from afar he urged better truths,
and gathered the saints into the synod:
saints of Anjou and Brittany, an assembled host;
saints of Lloegr and of Iwys, and saints of the North;
saints of Manaw and of Anaw and of the islands;
and saints of Powys, a wondrous people;
saints of Ireland Môn, and saints of Gwynedd;
saints of Dyfnaint and Caint, and chief assemblies;
and saints of Brycheiniog, a land of delight;
and saints of Maelienydd, a fair, open land;
and saints present from the lands of Gwent.
They were all together in one seat,
at Brefi, before Dewi, good in his life,
to take Dewi as your companion,
the foremost and fairest of the princes.
From what we have done, may no wrong be taken;
let us rise, let us ask a blameless request,
through the intercession of Dewi, and of God who will be.
Woe to the unprotected white land after shame.
Through the intercession of Mary, mother of grace,
and great Michael in every battle-array,
let us meet, our host, around our gentle lord;
let us too meet around mercy.