St David's Day Poem

Available for over a year

Ifor ap Glyn, the National Poet of Wales, has written a poem specially for Front Row to mark St David's Day, 1 March. Cymraeg Ambarel (Umbrella Welsh) is a celebration of the Welsh language. Cymraeg Ambarel Mae’n bwrw mor aml mewn byd drycinog, ond mae dy ffyn bob tro yn cloi’n gromen berffaith, uwch fy mhen; a than dy adain, caf hedfan yn unfraich, drwy ddychymyg yr hil. I rai, rwyt ti’n ‘cau’n deg ag agor, ond o’th rolio’n dynn, mi roddi sbonc i’n cerddediad fel Cymry; ac mi’th godwn yn lluman main i dywys ymwelwyr at ein hanes, a thua’r byd amgen sydd yno i bawb... Tydi yw’r ambarel sydd o hyd yn ein cyfannu, boed yn ‘gored, neu ynghau – dim ond i ni dy rannu.... Ifor ap Glyn Bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru Umbrella Welsh It rains so often in our stormy world, but your spokes always lock in a hemisphere above my head; and I can float through our people’s wit, hanging by one arm beneath your wing. For some, you simply can’t be opened, but rolling you tight lends a Welsh spring to our step; and we lift you, like a narrow flag, to guide visitors to our history, to an alternate reality, that’s open to all... You are that brolly, that melds our world, as long as you’re jointly held, - whether open or furled...