“Nadelik Lowen!”
I called to all the people.
“Kynnyav yw!” they cried.
“I’m Telyn, the Harp.”
“Telling the harp what?”
“No. My name is Telyn, and I am a harp. The Harp.”
“Oh.”
“And what, may I ask, are you?”
“May you well ask. I am… fanfare of drums… a piece of metal that has been twisted into a shape.”
“A triangle.”
“That’s it. I have been twisted into a triangular shape… but, I don’t know what I am called.”
“Perhaps, ‘Tingy’ might be a good name for you.”
“Ooh! That would be lovely. Tingy the thing made into a triangular shape. How happy I am!”
And with that, he struck himself on the head with a small rod of metal.
“Ting!!!!”
Telyn sighed, a lovely glissando of a sigh, but, a sigh nevertheless.
delyow omhweles
my a yll aga gweles
onen hag oll.
leaves fall down
I can see them
one and all.
Just the other dydh ,
I saw a Kammneves in the sky,
after the glaw,
and when the howl was passing by.
Rudh, rudh-velyn, velyn, gwyrdh, glas,
and then the Cornish words
for Indigo and Violet
which I have not yet learnt.
It was a teg Kammneves.
“Hy lodrow o gwynn
a-ugh hy diwlin.” he said,
“Did ‘she’ dress to please?”
PS ‘Hy lodrow a gwynn / a-ugh hy diwlin’ translates as: ‘Her stockings were white / above the knees.’
Evenish and mornish
I deign to be Cornish,
because I am not
proud to be Eng-
lish.
A Little bit of Cornish is what I’ve got.
A’gas dynnergh Kernow
‘Welcome to Cornwall!’
I say it a lot,
a little bit of Cornish, is what I’ve got.
‘Eus keus?’
‘Roev sos roev!’
phrases that I’ve learnt from song;
‘Onan hag oll!’ Let’s get along.
‘Nadelik Lowan!’
at ‘that’ time of the year
my pronunciations a little bad, I fear.
“Dydh da; duw genes!
as The Beatles sang,
of this ancient language, I shall get the hang.
A’gas dynnergh Kernow
‘Welcome to Cornwall!’
I say it a lot,
a little bit of Cornish, is what I’ve got.
 | Lokesh Umak on We counted them out |
| Lokesh Umak on We counted them out |
 | Words from a Lentil… on We counted them out |
| Lokesh Umak on We counted them out |
| Words from a Lentil… on Down the Looe! |
