This is the original version of the poem Marwnat Erof (The Elegy of Herakles) from the the Llyfr Taliesin (Book of Taliesin). It is rendered as close as possible to the original using my font, Mabinogi Celtic which is free for anyone to download and install.

ﬖar﬑nat erof.

⮰⮴oc﬉oeles el﬌﬌﬒
﬋al noſ ﬌n ﬒﬌﬒.
o ﬒﬌fot clotr﬌﬒
erc﬑lff en ﬇e﬒﬌﬒.
rc﬑lff a ﬒﬌e﬒eı.
ag﬉eu naſ riueı.
﬌ſc﬑﬌﬒a﬑ ﬌ mo﬒eı
arna﬑ atoreı.
rc﬑lf ſ﬌e﬌﬒
ermin lloe^rg﬌reg﬌﬒.
﬈e﬒eır colof﬌n ﬌nc﬌t
ru﬒eur are eu ﬒﬌t.
Colofneu erc﬑lf
n﬌ſ arueı﬒ b﬌g﬑l.
B﬌g﬑l n﬌s ﬇eı﬒ei.
⮙es ﬉eul n﬌s ga﬒eı.
﬌t aet﬉ ne﬇ ıſ nef
nc﬌t ﬌﬒ aet﬉ ef.
rc﬑lf mur ffoa﬑t.
ſ am﬒ut t﬌a﬑t.
s ro﬒﬑﬌ trin﬒a﬑
trugare﬒ ﬒﬌﬒ ﬇a﬑t
﬌n ﬋n﬒a﬑t ﬉e﬇ eıſeu.



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




The poem given above is transcribed directly from the Llyfr Taliesin (Book of Taliesin), with reference to Blodeugerdd Barddas o'r Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Ddeg edited by Dafydd Johnston. 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.