This is the original version of the poem Y Bedwenni (The Birch Trees) from the the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen). It is rendered as close as possible to the original using my font, Mabinogi Celtic which is free for anyone to download and install.

Ẏ ⮑e﬒enni

⮙in ﬍ bid ﬉i ﬍ ﬋eden in diffrin gu﬍.
 ſir﬉ ﬍ c﬉ege﬋ pop ﬋n. pop d﬋﬍.
c a ui pan ﬋o. ﬍ ga﬒ in ardud﬋﬍.
 c﬉imre﬋an bi﬋ am ri﬒ ﬋oc﬉n﬋﬍.
 p﬉eleidir a gaur in﬍gan﬉﬋﬍.
c edin imon. ban gluedic﬉u﬍.
r gueion gleion ﬍ſca[in r]a﬋odi.
r dilla﬒ ruion in e﬋ roi.————

⮙in ﬍ bi﬒ ﬉i ﬍ ﬋eden. ﬍m pimlumon.
 il ban ﬋i ban baran eilon.
c a il. ﬍. freigc in lluricogion.
c am geﬓn ir aelui﬒ b﬋i﬒ balaon.
a mﬓneic﬉ in ﬋﬍nic﬉ in ﬋arc﬉ogio.

⮙in ﬌ bi﬒ ﬉i ﬍ ﬋eduen ﬍guar﬉a din﬋﬍﬉u﬍.
 ﬋ibid ban ﬋o ﬍ ga﬒ in ardu﬒﬍.
r peleidir ﬍c﬉uin am edr﬍u﬍.
. p﬉on ar a. ac arall ar au﬍.
c arall amall am d﬍lan g﬍.
r aer ae gunel﬍. bi﬒ ﬍ en﬋ gar﬋﬍.
rben﬍gaul mon ae. guled﬍c﬉u﬍.
⮙urage dan ﬍ gin. ⮙uir ﬍g ﬌ſt﬋﬍.
Ded﬍ac﬉ no mi ae ﬉ar﬉oe.
mſer adaladi. er a gan﬉i.⮶⮶⮶⮶⮶




Follow these links for the Celtnet Poetry archive and the Black Book of Carmarthen information page.




The poem given above is transcribed directly from the Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Black Book of Carmarthen), with reference to Blodeugerdd Barddas o'r Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Ddeg edited by Dafydd Johnston and to AHO Jarman's diplomatic edition of the text. Letters or words obviously missing from the text are enclosed in square brackets [ ] and letters or words that are either superfluous to the metre or which are erroniously copied in the original are indicated in italic text.

As well as being a treasure trove of ancient poetry the Llyfr Du also contains a number of marginalia, including drawings and notes. As such it is also a resource of Medieval imagery. I have reproduced some of these images and they are presented here. As you can see, this poem breaks off in the last line and the remainder of the poem is lost.