Noswylio

Mae'n ddefod gyda'r 'fenga 'cw
wasgaru "llwch cysgu"
dros ei lygaid,
cyn eu cau, trwy gribo'r cwsg
i lawr trwy'i wallt
ac yn dyner dros ei dalcen, 
 
nos da, Dad
nos da...
 
Grandawaf ar y plant yn anadlu'r nos,
y pennau bach dan gwrlid
wedi mynd i rywle lle na allwn ddilyn,
ond o leiaf y dôn nhw nôl;
mae sêr rhyw nos dragwyddol
yn britho'u gwalltia, 
a'u wyneba fel clocia 
yng ngwyll y llofft...
 
Mae eu boreau nhw yn bnawn i ni,
a'u pnawniau nhw a wêl ein noswylio; 
pnawn Sul tawel efallai,
a'r haul trwy'r bleind yn ystol ddu ar wal;
a'r dyrna bach
wedi dod yn ddwylo oedolyn,
sy’n gwasgaru'r llwch cysgu dros fy llygaid cau,
a'i gribo lawr trwy 'ngwallt brithwyn...
 
Nos da, Dad
nos da...

© Ifor ap Glyn
De: Cerddi Map yr Underground
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 2001
Producción de Audio: Wales Literature Exchange

Settling for the night

It’s a custom with my youngest 
To sprinkle “sleeping dust”
Over his eyes
Before closing them, 
combing the sleep down through his hair 
and tenderly over his forehead
 
Good night, Dad,
Good night…
 
I listen to our children breathing the night,
Their tiny heads under the covers
Gone somewhere where  we cannot follow
But at least they will return;
The stars of some eternal night
Speckle their hair
And their faces are like clocks
In the bedroom twilight.
 
Their morning is afternoon to us;
Their afternoon will see us settled for the night;
Some quiet Sunday perhaps
the sun through the blinds 
will raise its black ladder on my bedroom wall 
and the child fists 
will have become adult hands 
that will sprinkle the sleeping dust 
over my closed eyes
before combing it down through my peppered grey hair…
 
Good night, Dad,
Good night…

Translated by Ifor ap Glyn