Kisses in the rainSome thoughts on Welsh love, its expression in writing and song.The man who feels love cannot always express it.I am looking at a few things that have stirred the Cymric imagination and these come from Welshmen who were able to express what they felt.There is a device used in medieval Welsh poetry that is called the llatai. Here a messenger symbol is used to relay love from one person to another through imagination. These symbols may be taken from the natural world and in the craft of Dafydd ap Gwilym we find the poet using everything from a fish to a bird. In this particular quote he uses the image of the male thrush when he imagines that Morfudd, one of his loves is thinking of himPellenig, pwyll ei annwydPell ei siwrnai Ir llatai llwydYma y doeth oswydd goeth GaerAm ei erchi om eurchwaerO stranger his nature is wisdomGrey messenger a long journey has comeFrom my goldengirl at her commandFrom the rich(fine) county of Carmarthen. (my adaptation)But we need not look to structured poetry to find evidence of these messenger symbols. Its there in the folk songs tooY deryn pur ath aden lasBydd imin was dibryderO brysur! Brysia at y ferchLle rhoes im serch yn gynnarOh bird with the blue wingBe for me a lad who is carefreeO haste! hasten to the girlI gave my heart to early(my adaptation)But if the Welshman needs to express his anticipation of love there is also for him a need to express its counterpoint-the sorrow of it. Heres a short poem by John Morris Jones written between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This time it is the wind that stands as a dominant metaphor. The wind moaning stirs his recollection of lost love.Cwsg ni ddaw im hamrant henoDagrau ddaw ynghyntWrth fy ffenestr yn gwynfannusYr ochneidiar gwyntCodii lais yn awr, ac wyloBeichio wylo maeAr y gwydr yr hyrddiai ddagrauYn ei wylltaf waePam y deui, wynt , i wyloAt fy ffenestr i?Dywed im, a gollaist tithauUn ath garai di?My adaptation followsNo sleep to come to eyeline tonightOnly tears that fill togetherDoleful wind that continues without respiteAt my window moaning, soft, low, tonightNow breaks a sadder voice and weepsTears heavy with the soundOn the pane the teardrops glisten and steepIn the utter distress this sorrow keepsWhy come you then wind to moanAt my glass known but to me?Tell me did you lose too a love you'd knownWho loved you tenderly?This is rather a free rendering made so that an English Language poem emerges...And finally there is this by Mathonwy Hughes, an example of an englyn, a particular form of short Welsh Language poem whose statement is always pithy.Gwraig rinweddolEr dyfod briw y diwedd-ni roddwydDan briddell ei boneddNa, rhy annwyl ei rhinweddIw gelu byth dan glo beddEven though a wound came at the endShe was not placed under native earthNo too dear her goodnessTo ever be hidden in a locked grave (My adaptation)So then it often rains in Wales but even in those showers Welshmen over time have honed their imagination and taken things from the world around them and used them to express loves anticipation and its sorrow. All things begin and end in time, even love. Let us keep our love spoons bright then!Privilege to shareHwyl pawbOddi wrth Iain/from Iain