Here is what Pamela Marsden wrote
on 16 February 2007 about the poem:
"The
Davis brothers'
mother, Gwenllian Williams, became deaf as a result
of scarlet fever and she died in 1866 from 'y geri marwol'. I have been told this was probably cholera. Her
father, known as Morgan Edward William, was something of a poet and a booklet
of his poems, Hymnau a chaniadau a gyfansoddwyd ar wahanol amserau, was
published in his memory in 1869, the year after his death. He was in his
ninetieth year and it is said his funeral was attended by close on 1000 people.
One of his poems was written for Gwenllian:
GAIR
O GYSUR I GWENI, EI FERCH HENAF,
PAN WEDI COLLI
EI CHLYW
Os yw dy glyw di,
Gweni
Wedi'i gymeryd
bant,
Mae Duw, trwy
amryw foddion,
Yn puro'i anwyl blant;
Pwy wyr (circumflex over the w in the original)na phura
dithau
O'th sorod oll i gyd;
I'th wneud yn etifeddes
Am byth o'r nefoedd glyd.
As far as I am aware, the only copy of this book extant is
owned by the National Library of Wales and is kept in the university library in
Swansea. When I
discovered it was there in May last year, my sister-in-law, who lives nearby,
went to see it and was allowed to photocopy it for the family."
Here is an informational and non-poetic English translation of
the poem prepared by Ron Dennis:
A WORD OF COMFORT FOR
GWENI, HIS OLDEST DAUGHTER
AFTER SHE LOST HER
HEARING
If thy hearing, Gweni,
Has been taken away,
God, through a
variety of means,
Purifies
his dear children.
Who knows but what he
is purifying thee
From all the dross;
And has made thee an
heiress
Forever
of the blissful heavens.
