Don't say this struggle's all in vain,
the target's always out of range,
your work is effort down the drain,
and situations never change:

Perhaps it's true your hopes were wrong,
but who's to say your fears are right?
Your friends were fighting all along;
they're winning battles out of sight.

The waves of hope may seem to stay
far down the beach you stand beside;
Across the sea, from...

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THE DARK BLOT

by Hedd Wyn (1887-1917), my translation

We have no right to starlight,
nor moon that moans so lonely,
nor golden clouds a-rolling
through boundless blue, for only
this world so worn and weary
is ours in truth, that lies
discordant in God's glory
to stain the starry skies.

Welsh original:

Nid oes gennym hawl ar y sêr,
Na'r lleuad hiraethus chwaith,
Na'r cwmwl o au...

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Upon a Bed of Biting that a Flea was occupying,
a Woman and a tasty-looking Poet were a-lying.
The Poet never heard the Flea arriving with a leap,
as he chattered at the Woman, as she tried to get some sleep,
and the Fearless Flea was sated when he'd fed upon the two
(and their juices mixed inside him, which is more than she would do).

The Fearless Flea has fallen! for the Woman struck him...

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When my room has sunk into darkness
When it’s crept to the depths of night
Then I fill my head with the words I read
In my book when the world was bright.

When my house is hushed into silence
When the sound all around me ends
Then my thoughts still hold all the tales I told
By the fire with the smiles of friends.

When the world is curled under blankets
When I doze and I close my eyes
...

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If we could live together without death's arrival as an inevitable inbetweener,
Your coyness would not be a misdemeanour.
We'd spend all eternity discussing each angle afresh,
And you'd probably go looking for rubies beside a river in Bangladesh,
Whereas I'd predictably end up somewhere really dull
Like Hull.

My love for you would continue to grow throughout this experience,
As slowly as ...

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