Translations into English Verse from the Poems of Davyth ap Gwilym/The Cuckoo's Tale
THE CUCKOO’S TALE.
The cuckoo brings the tidings of Morvyth’s marriage with Hunchback. The bard describes himself as waiting, at the dawn of day, under a precipice for the arrival of Morvyth. Seeing the cuckoo, he thus addresses that bird.
Hail, bird of sweet melody, heav’n is thy home;
With the tidings of summer thy bright pinions roam—
The summer that thickens with foliage the glade,
And lures to the woodland the poet and maid.
Sweet as ‘sack,’ gentle bird, is thy beautiful voice,
In thy accents the lover must ever rejoice;
Oh! tell me at once, in thy musical lay,
Where tarries the girl whose behest I obey.
“Poor bard,” said the cuckoo, “what anguish and pain
Hast thou stored for thyself! all thy cares are in vain!
All hopes of the maid thou awaitest resign,
She has wedded another, and ne’er can be thine.”
The poet angrily replies that this is impossible—that Morvyth was solemnly united to him in the presence of the bard, Madog Benfras, who united their hands under the branches of the forest; and abuses the cuckoo. The cuckoo retorts by repeating her story, and declaring that Morvyth is now the wife of Hunchback. The poem thus concludes.
“For the tale thou hast told”—to the cuckoo I cried,
“For thus singing to me of my beautiful bride
These strains of thy malice—may winter appear
And dim the sun’s light—stay the summer’s career;
With frost all the leaves of the forest boughs fill,
And wither the woods with his desolate chill,
And with cold in the midst of thy own forest spray,
Take thy life and thy song, foolish cuckoo, away!”