Lili Wen

Of course, it’s Mother’s Day, and I’m blessed with two beautiful bouquets - one of white roses and lilies, the other phlox, lilies, carnations and freesias. I’d love to have both boys here of course, but the flowers go some way to recompense.  

So I’ve an abundance of floral subjects to blip today, but I’m afraid I just can’t resist another flower - Lili.

G’s brother has become a bit of a poet in his retirement, and now writes verses for family occasions. Welsh poetry is an art form in itself, relying heavily on patterns of internal rhyme and repetition of consonant sounds - it has a musicality even if you don’t understand the words. And so he wrote a verse celebrating Lili’s birth - in Welsh with an approximate translation in English. 

Interestingly, Lili was originally going to have just one name - simply Lili. But when Solveig read the poem beginning ‘Lili wen’ and realised this was a snowdrop (also known as Eirlys - I’ve previously used this in a blip), they decided she would be Lili Wen - and so this was her official ‘title’ when Daniel registered her birth last week. 

This rather longwinded explanation leads me to my blip today: a poster Daniel designed and had printed as a present for Solveig’s first Mother’s Day, containing the two poems As you can see in the extra, mum and daughter seem pretty thrilled! 

Here are the verses, in case you can’t read them on the poster: 

Lili wen, eli’n enaid - a’i  sylwedd
Yn oesol, yn danbaid
Gwanwyn rho ei gwên euraid,
Anian teg i’w nain a’i thaid. 

This snowdrop, balm of winter white, 
Its essence lifelong and ever bright. 
Her golden smile comes as springtime,
Fair creation for every taid a nain *

Taid a nain - grandfather and grandmother (though I’m nana rather than nain!)