Armistice Day: Hedd Wyn's "Rhyfel" ("War")

For Armistice/Veteran's Day, I'm sharing Welsh poet, Hedd Wyn's, poem Rhyfel/War.  Of all the poems by World War I poets that I've read, this is, in my opinion, the most poignant-- particularly the last two lines.  Hedd Wyn (the bardic name for Ellis Evans) went to war reluctantly, as did, no doubt, many in that war.  He was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.  Hedd Wyn was posthumously awarded Chair of the Bard at the 1917 National Eisteddfod, the highest poetic honor in Wales.

The Welsh original is below.  My English translation appears in the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of the journal JMWW at http://jmwwjournal.com/Ratcliffe1.html.

RHYFEL
Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng
A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;
O'i ol mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,
Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw
Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;
Mae swn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,
A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt
Ynghrog ar gangau'r helg draw,
A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,
A'u gwaed yn gymysg efo'r glaw.