A Pre-Eminent Girl
Three women with faces like gossamer
received quite rightfully
the lovely beauty which God of Heaven
4 gave to Eve at the time of the fortunate event.
The first of the three radiant ones
who received it, swift lively grace,
was Polixena daughter of Priam,
8 splendid treasure clad in fur.
The second was Deidameia,
of the fine beauty of the light-expending summer sun.
The third girl, descendant of[or one
similar to] Rhun long ago,
12 was Elen Fannog, fair and slender,
she who caused commotion
and strife between Greece and Troy.
The fourth, love's gorgeous beauty,
16 is the bright shining slender lovely girl
coming fair and dignified
into the church, golden-girdled maid,
and crowds of people looking at her
20 in the middle [of the church], splendid shining lady,
And me, there came to me a wish
to ask who the lovely maid was.
'She is sister, bright joyous moon,
24 by the same father, to the moon,
and niece to fine sunshine,
and her mother was the flawless dawn of day,
and she hails from Gwynedd,
28 and she is grand-daughter of the sun in the sky.'
No woman that I know is white,
no lime on any grand stone chamber is white,
no pale curling wave is white,
32 no foam of any lake nor snowdrift is white,
no truly radiant face is white
compared to my darling's face, by Mary!
I would make a bet without consideration,
36 hue of a wave when turbulent water rages on the sea,
that there is no Christian believer alive
who could find any defect in this girl's colour,
but that she is the height of praise,
40 God's my witness, [and] is brighter than any lamp.
Let no Welshman wonder
that the girl is called by the colour she is.
Anyone who would gladly
44 forsake the girl and possess the whole world,
may the core of his heart be churned
by this far-reaching knife.
The greater were my wealth
48 and my grand befitting praise,
all the more at once would be the pain
in the quick of my soul [because of] the memory [of her] within
me.
What good would it do me, gentlemen,
52 to forsake the girl and possess the wealth.
There is no hope this year
for anyone who is older than her.