Book of Taliesin VII

This poem is characterized by its mystical and esoteric language, exploring themes of transformation, knowledge, and the natural world. The references to transforming into various forms like a salmon, a dog, a stag, and even inanimate objects symbolize the bard’s deep connection with all elements of existence and his journey through different states of being.

The poem also delves into philosophical and cosmic questions, touching upon themes like creation, the nature of the universe, and the flow of time. It illustrates the bard’s profound wisdom and understanding of the world, both seen and unseen.

Moreover, the poem exhibits the traditional bardic function of preserving and transmitting knowledge through verse. The frequent references to natural phenomena, astronomical bodies, and the passage of time indicate a deep understanding of the world and a desire to impart this wisdom.

In essence, the poem is a testament to the bard’s role as a seer, philosopher, and guardian of knowledge in Celtic culture, showcasing the depth and complexity of ancient Welsh poetry.

The Hostile Confederacy

A Bard there is here, who has not sung, what he shall have to sing;
Let him sing; when he shall have finished,
An astrologer then he may be.
The generous ones refuse me.
There will not be one that will give.
Through the language of Taliessin,
It was a bright day
When Kian did
Praise the multitude.
There will be a slaughter, let there be the speech of Avagddu.
But if he ingeniously brings
The requisites forward,
Gwiawn will declare,
O the deep that will come!
He would make the dead alive,
And destitute of wealth he is.
They will not make their cauldrons,
That will boil without fire.
They will make their metals
In age of ages.
Thy pace that bears thee
From the deep of panegyric,
Is it not the hostile confederacy?
What its custom?
So much of national song
Your tongue has given.
Why will ye not recite an oration
Of blessing over the liquor of brightness?
The theme of every one’s rhapsody.
I shall be there according to custom,
He was a profound judge.
He came after his periodical custom,
The third of the equal judges.
Three score years
I have supported an earthly scene,
In the water of law and the multitude.
In the element of lands.
A hundred servants surrounded,
A hundred kings made vows.
A hundred they are that went,
A hundred they are that came.
A hundred minstrels sang,
And he foretold of them.
Lladdon, the daughter of the stream,
Little was her desire
For gold and silver,
Who is the living one that left her?
Blood on the breast;
He will probably be spoken of,
He will be greatly praised.
I am Taliesin,
I will delineate the true lineage
Continuing until the end,
In the pattern of Elphin.
Is not the tribute
Of counted gold a debt?
When is hated and not loved,
Perjury and treason,
I desire not advantage,
Through the fluctuation of our song.
The brother that freely greets,
From me no one shall know.
The wise man of the primary science,
The astrologer reasoned,
About wrath, about the resolvent,
About the man describing .windings.
About men well versed in praise.
Let us proceed, God it is,
Through the language of Talhaearn,
Baptism was the day of judgment,
That judged the characteristics
Of the force of poetry.
He and his virtue gave
Inspiration without mediocrity,
Seven score Ogyrven
Are in the Awen.
Eight score, of every score it will be one.
In the Annwfn it will cease from ire;
In the Annwfn it will be excessively angry;
In the Annwfn, below the earth;
In the sky, above the earth.
There is one that knows
What sadness is,
Better than joy.
I know the law of the graces of
The Awen, when it flows,
Concerning skilful payments,
Concerning happy days,
Concerning a tranquil life,
Concerning the protection of ages.
Concerning what beseenis kings; how long their consolation.
Concerning similar things, that are on the face uf the earth.
Magnificent astronomy, when communicated,
Sees all that is high.
When the mind is active,
When the sea is pleasant,
When the race is valiant,
When the high one is supplicated,
Or the sun when it is given,
When it covers the land.
Covering land of what extent?
When was drawn the bird of wrath,
The bird of wrath when it was drawn.
When the earth is green.
Who chaunted songs?
Songs who chaunted?
If true, who has considered them?
It has been considered in books,
How many winds, how many streams,
How many streams, how many winds.
How many rivers in their courses,
How many rivers there are.
The earth, what its breadth;
Or what its thickness.
I know the noise of the blades,
Crimson on all sides, about the floor.
I know the regulator,
Between heaven and earth;
When an opposite hill is echoing,
When devastation urges onward,
When the silvery (vault) is shining,
When the deli shall be gloomy.
The breath when it is black,
When is best that has been.
A cow, when it is horned,
A wife, when she is lovely,
Milk, when it is white,
When the holly is green,
When is bearded the kid
In the multitude of fields,
When it is bearded,
When the cow-parsnip is created,
When is revolving the wheel,
When the mallet is fiat,
When is spotted the little roebuck,
When the salt is brine,
Ale, when it is of an active quality.
When is of purplish hue the alder.
When is green the linnet,
When are red the hips,
Or a woman when restless,
When the night comes on.
What reserve there is in the hour of flowing,
No one knows whence the bosom of the sun is made ruddy.
A stain on a new garment,
It is difficult to remove it.
The string of a harp, why it complains,
The cuckoo, why it complains, why it sings.
Why keepeth the agreeable,
Why have led the camp
Gereint and Arman.
What brings out the sparkle
From hard working of the stones.
When is sweet-smelling the goat’s-beard plant;
When the crows are of a waxen hue.
Talhayarn is
The greatest astronomer.
What is the imagination of trees.
From the muse the agreement of a day.
I know good and evil.
* * * *
* * * *
The bowl of whom has flowed,
What dawn has finished,
Who preached,
Eli and Eneas:¹
I know the cuckoos of summer,
(Where) they will be in the winter.
The Awen I sing,
From tAnnwfn  I bring it,
A river while it flows,
I know its extent;
I know when it disappears;
I know when it fills;
I know when it overflows;
I know when it shrinks;
I know what base
There is beneath the sea.
I know their equivalent,
Every one in its retinue;
How many were heard in a day,
How many days in a year.
How many shafts in a battle,
How many drops in a shower.
Mildly he divided them.
A greater mockery, the partial stirring up of disgrace,
The vicious muse of Gwydyon.
I know the one,
That filled the river,
On the people of Pharaoh.
Who brought the windings
Of present reasons.
What was the active patience,
When heaven was upreared.
What was a sail-staff
From earth to sky.
How many fingers about the cauldron,
About one, about the hand,
What name the two words
Will not deliver in one cauldron.
When the sea is turning round,
When black are the fish.
Marine food shall be their flesh,
Until it is transformed,
When fish shall contain it.
When the foot of the white swan is black,
Four-sided the sharp spear.
The tribe of heaven will not put down.
Which are the four elements.
Their end is not known.
What pigs, or what wandering of stags.
I salute thee, Bard of the border.
May he increase thee, (whose) bones (are of) mist.
(Where) two cataracts of wind fall.
My mind has been expressed
In Hebrew, in Hebraic.
In Hebraic, in Hebrew,
Laudatu Laudate Jesu.
A second time was I formed.
I have been a blue salmon.
I have been a dog; I have been a stag;
I have been a roebuck on the mountain. 
I have been a stock, I have been a spade 
I have been an axe in the hand; 
I have been a pin in a forceps,
A year and a half;
I have been a speckled white cock
Upon hens in Eiddyn.
I have been a stallion over a stud.
I have been a violent bull,
I have been a buck of yellow hue,
As it is feeding.
I have been a grain discovered,
Which grew on a hill.
He that reaped me placed me,
Into a smoke-hole driving me.
Exerting of the hand,
In afflicting me,
A hen received me,
With ruddy claws, (and) parting comb
I rested nine nights.
In her womb a child,
I have been matured,
I have been an offering before the Guledig,
I have been dead, I have been alive.
A branch there was to me of ivy,
I have been a convoy,
Before God I have been poor.
Again advised inc the cherisher
With ruddy claws; of what she gave me
Scarcely can be recounted;
Greatly will it be praised.
I am Taliesin.
I will delineate the true lineage,
That will continue to the end,
In the pattern of Elphin.

Angar Kyfundawt

Bard yman ymae neu cheint aganho.
Kanet pan darffo.
Sywedydyn yt uo.
Haelon am nacco.
Nys deubi arotho.
Trwy ieith taliessin.
Bu dyd emellin.
Kian pan darfu.
Lliaws y gyfolu.
By lleith bit areith auacdu.
Neus duc y geluyd.
Kyuren argywyd.
Gwiawn a leferyd.
A dwfyn dyfyd.
Gwnaei o varw vyw.
Ac aghyfoeth yw.
Gwneynt eu delideu.
yn oes oesseu.
Dydwyth dydyccawt
O dyfynwedyd gwawt.
Neut angar kyfyndawt.
Pwy ychynefawt.
Kymeint kerd kiwdawt
A delis awch tafawt.
Pyr na threthwch traethawt.
Llat uch llyn llathrawt.
Penillyach pawb
Dybydaf yna gnawt.
Dwfyn dyfu ygnawt.
Neur dodyw ystygnawt.
Trydyd par ygnat.
Trvgein mlyned
Yt portheisilawrwed.
Yn dyfyr kaw a chiwed.
Yn eluyd tired.
Kanweis am dioed.
Kant rihyd odynoed.
Kan yw yd aethant.
Kan yw y doethant.
Kan eilewyd y gant.
Ac ef ae darogant.
Lladon verch liant.
Oed bychan ychwant
Y eur ac aryant.
Pwyr byw ae diadas
Gwaet yar wynwas
Odit traethator
Mawr molhator.
Mitwyf taliessin.
Ry phrydaf y iawn llin
Parawt hyt ffin
Ygkynelw elphin.
Neur deiryg het
O rif eur dylyet.
Pan gassat ny charat.
Anudon a brat.
Nu ny chwennych vat
Trwy gogyuec an gwawt.
A gogyfarchwy brawt wrthyf ny gwybyd nebawt.
Doethur prif geluyd.
Dispwyllawt sywedyd.
Am wyth am edrywth
Am doleu dynwedyd.
Am gwyr gwawt geluyd.
Kerdwn duw yssyd
Trwy ieith talhayarn.
Bedyd bu dyd varn.
A varnwys teithi
Angerd vardoni.
Ef ae rin rodes
Awen aghymes.
Seith vgein ogyruen
Yssyd yn awen.
Wyth vgein o pop vgein e nyd yn vn.
Yn annwfyn y diwyth.
Yn annwfyn y gorwyth.
Yn annwfyn is eluyd.
Y mae ae gwybyd.
Py tristit yssyd
Gwell no llewenyd.
Gogwn dedyf radeu.
Awen pan deffreu.
Am geluyd taleu.
Am detwyd dieu.
am buched ara.
Am oesseu yscorua.
Am haual teyrned. py hyt eu kygwars.
Am gyhaual ydynt trwy weryt.
Mawrhydic. sywyd pan dygfrensit
Awel uchel gyt.
Pan vyd gohoyw bryt
Pan vyd mor hyfryt.
Pan yw gwrd echen.
Pan echrewyt uchel.
Neu heul pan dodir.
Pan yw toi tir.
Toi tir pwy meint.
Pan tynhit gwytheint.
Gwytheint pan tynnit.
Pan yw gwyrd gweryt.
Gweryt pan yw gwyrd.
Pwy echenis kyrd.
Kyrd pwy echenis.
Ystir pwy ystyrywys.
Ystyrywyt yn llyfreu
Pet wynt pet ffreu.
Pet ffreu pet wynt.
Pet auon ar hynt.
Pet auon yd ynt.
Dayar pwy y llet.
Neu pwy y thewhet.
Gogwn trws llafnawr
Am rud am lawr.
Gogwn atrefnawr
Rwg nef a llawr
Pan atsein aduant.
Pan ergyr diuant.
Pan lewych aryant.
Pan vyd tywyll nant.
Anadyl pan yw du.
Pan yw ren a uu.
Buch pan yw bannawc.
Gwreic pan yw serchawc.
Llaeth pan yw gwyn.
Pan yw glas kelyn.
Pan yw baruawt myn.
Yn lliaws mehyn.
Pan yw baruawt.
Pan yw keu efwr.
Pan yw medw colwyn.
Pan yw lledyf ordwyn.
Pan yw brith iyrchwyn.
pan yw hallt halwyn
Cwfwf pan yw ystern.
Pan yw lletrud gwern.
Pan yw gwyrd llinos.
Pan yw rud egroes.
Neu wreic ae dioes.
Pan dygynnu nos. 
Py datweir yssyd yn eur lliant.
Ny wyr neb pan rudir y bron huan.
Lliw yn erkynan newyd
Anahawr ydwyn.
Tant teyn py gwyn.
Coc py gwyn py gan.
Py geidw y didan.
Py dydwc garthan
Gereint ac arman.
Py dydwc glein.
O erddygnawt vein
Pan yw per erwein.
Pan yw gwyrliw brein.
Talhayarn yssyd
Mwyhaf y sywedyd.
Pwy amgyfrawd gwyd
O aches amot dyd.
Gogwn da a drwc
Cwda. cwd amewenir mwc
Mawr meint gogyhwc.
Dawc pwy ae dylifas.
Pwy gwawr gorffennas.
Pwy agregethas.
Eli ac eneas.
Gogwn gogeu haf.
A uydant y gayaf.
Awen aganaf.
O dwfyn ys dygaf.
Auon kyt beryt.
Gogwn y gwrhyt.
Gogwn pan dyueiw.
Gogwn pan dyleinw.
Gogwn pan dillyd.
Gogwn pan wescryd.
Gogwn py pegor
Yssyd y dan vor.
Gogwn eu heissor
Pawb yny oscord.
Pet gygloyt yn dyd
Pet dyd ymblwydyn.
Pet paladyr ygkat.
Pet dos ygkawat.
Atuwyn y tannawt.
Gwawt nwy mefyl gogyffrawt
Aches gvyd gwydyon.
Gogwn i nebawt
Py lenwis auon
Ar pobyl pharaon.
Py dydwc rwynnon
Baran achwysson.
Py yscawl odef
Pan drychafafwyt nef.
Pwy uu fforch hwyl
O dayar hyt awyr.
Pet byssed am peir
Am vn am nedeir
Pwy enw y deueir.
Ny eing yn vn peir.
Pan yw mor meddwhawt.
Pan yw du pyscawt.
Moruwyt uyd eu cnawt.
Hyd pan ywmedysc.
Pan yw gannawc pysc.
Pan yw du troet alarch gwyn.
Pedrydawc gwaew llym.
Llwyth nef nyt ystyg.
Py pedeir tywarchen.
Ny wys eu gorffen.
Py voch neu py grwydyr hyd.
Ath gyfarchaf vargat vard.
Gwryth gynnyd escyrn nywl.
Gwdynt deu rayadyr gwynt.
Traethattor vygofec.
Yn efrei yn efroec.
Yn efroec yn efrei.
Laudatu Laudate Jessu.
Eil gweith ym rithat.
Bum glas gleissat.
Bum ki bum hyd.
Bum iwrch ymynyd.
Bum kyff bum raw
Bum bwell yn llaw.
Bum ebill yggefel
Blwydyn ahanher.
Bum keilyawc brithwyn
Ar ieir yn eidin.
Bum amws ar re.
Bum tarw toste.
Bum bwch melinawr.
Mal ymaethawr.
Bum gronyn erkennis.
Ef tyfwys ymryn.
A mettawr am dottawr.
Yn sawell ymgyrrawr.
Ymrygiawr o law.
Wrth vyg godeidaw.
Am haruolles yar.
Grafrud grib escar.
Gorffowysseis naw nos
Yny chroth yn was.
Bum Aeduedic
Bum llat rac gwledic.
Bum marw bum byw.
Keig ydym ediw
Bum y arwad awt.
Y rac daw bum tawt
Am eil kyghores gres
Grafrud am rodes.
Odit traethattor
Mawr molhator.
Mitwyf taliesin
Ryphrydaf iawnllin.
Parahawt hyt ffin.
Ygkynnelw elphin.