Hey Ben! Benjamin Bore, tynna'r tywyl i ffwrdd ben bore, tynna'r tywyl i ffwrdd Mae'n dydd newydd yn byddwf, mae'n tynnu'r tywyl i ffwrdd.
Finally have the listening comprehension to (somewhat) transcribe and (even more somewhat) translate the lyrics to a song I really like, Benjamin Bore, by Datblygu (a band who were arguably the best of the best).
From what little I do understand of it, it's a clever bit of David R Edwards poetry and wordplay. (Doesn't "ben bore" mean early in the morning?)
To my understanding, it says "Benjamin! Drive away the darkness! The early morning drives away the dark. A new day comes, it drives away the dark." (very, very roughly. Not to mention I can't quite spell yet.)
I am still working through the rest, and what a joy it is to spend time with Dave's words and work (and to finally be able to understand some of them on my own!), but in the meanwhile, can I please bring to attention the chorus?
Benjamin Bore'n cysgu trwy'r amser Ben bore'n cysgu trwy'r adeg Ben bore'n cysgu trwy'r amser a dweud, ei [..rhywbeth bod wnesi ddim gallu clywyd...] ymarfer mae'r mor aith.
It's not perfect; the entire last line could be [something I couldn't hear], but that's not what this is about.
It's the use of both amser and adeg here, isn't it? They both technically mean 'time', but different sorts of time.
I had to do some homework for this one, but from an archived and useful BBC Wales site,
Two different words are used for 'time'— amser and adeg. However, they're not exactly interchangeable. You can ask someone if they'd had an amser da - 'a good time' on their holiday, but you couldn't ask if they'd had an adeg da. Amser conveys the notion of continuing time, whereas adeg refers to a specific period in time [...]
David is specifically referring to both these notions of 'time': sleeping through hours, and through moments; periods; events.
It's too late in the night for me to work out what that means, outside of language, but that's the good thing about art eh, you don't have to 'solve' it, and especially not in one night. This one I'll keep. I'll take my time with it and let it keep me company for a while now. David R Edwards is a poet.
(Listen, I wax lyrical about my favourite artists, but do correct me if I'm reading this wrong since I am basically a beginner.)