Finally completing my full collection of books by Dr. Ronald D. Dennis, I was reading The Call of Zion: The Story of the First Welsh Mormon Emigration, (Religious Studies Center, Provo, Utah 1987). And I came across a piece of a translation of a hymn attributed to Dan Jones. It was about California, which in 1848, would have included the new Mormon settlements of 1847 near the Great Salt Lake. Utah Territory would not be organized until the Act of 1850. And Brigham Young was still envisioning a "State of Deseret" stretching over the Sierra to the Pacific Coast in what is now Southern California.
The hymn appears in the 1852 Welsh Hymnal at No. 193 which I thought I had recognized and I found it with the clear keyword of "California." The rest of the lyric seems to fit my weak vocabulary. I wish I knew the tune.
The hymn appears in the 1852 Welsh Hymnal at No. 193 which I thought I had recognized and I found it with the clear keyword of "California." The rest of the lyric seems to fit my weak vocabulary. I wish I knew the tune.
I now produce the Welsh (Cymraeg) version and the English translation that Dr. Dennis provides in his book noted above, at App. E, Translated Document 1, p. 125.
Pan fo'r haint yn medi'r gwledydd-
Medi dyn fel gwellt y maes;
Pan fo chwa ei afiach awel
Un diffrwytho'r ddaer las,
California,
Draw i'r moroedd maith, i me.
Pan fo'r cleddyf awchus gloyw
Yn ymdrochi yn y gwaed;
Ië, gwaed--cynhes-waed dynion,
Yn y brwydrau gwaethaf gaed;
California--
Hwnt i'r creiglyd fryniau'r âf.
Pan fo'n disgyn had yr hauwr,
Dan briddellau'r maes yn syth,
Pan ddysgwyllio'r hauwr hwnw
Fedi--ond heb fedi byth;
California--
Eden byd yw'r wlad i mi.
Yno ceir y cnwd toreithiog;
Yno ceir y ffrwythau pêr;
Diwedd gauaf melldith Eden;
Dechreu haf bendithiol Ner;
California--
Dyna pen paradwys byd.
Yno ceir ynghyd y degwm,
A sylfaenu'r deml fawr;
Yno ceir ei gwych gyssegru,
Gyda'r Ion pan ddel yr awr:
California--
Ti fydd Ganaan newydd byd.
Cwithau, frodyr, sydd yn aros,
Brysiwch ddyfod ar ein hol;
Cofiwch, byddwn yn eich dysgwyl
Gyda threm hiraethus gôl;
California--
Cenwch nes dod iddi gyd.
Doed y llestr hwyliawg anwyl,
Doed y brodyr ar ei bwrdd:
Ffarwel i ti, fyd y felldith,
Tithau'r awel, chwyth i ffwrdd:
California--
Dim ond California mwy.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hail to California!
When pestilence is harvesting the countries--
Harvesting man like the grass of the field;
When its foul breeze blows
Laying waste the green earth,
California,
Yonder across the distant seas, for me.
When the sharp shining sword
Is bathed in blood;
Yes, blood--the warm blood of men,
In the worst battles ever fought,
California--
Yonder to the Rocky Mountains I shall go.
When the seed of the sower descends
Straight under the soils of the field.
When the sower waits
To reap--but without ever reaping;
California--
The country is for me the Eden of the world.
There the crops are abundant,
There the fruits are sweet;
The end of the winter of Eden's curse;
The beginning of the Lord's blessed summer:
California--
There is the chief paradise of the world.
There the tithing is brought together;
And the great temple is founded;
There it is splendidly sanctified,
With the Lord when the hour comes:
California--
Thou shalt be the new Canaan of the world.
You brethren who have stayed behind,
Hasten to come after us;
Remember, we shall await you
With a longing look;
California--
Sing until you all come there.
Let the dear sailing vessel come,
Let the brethren come aboard;
Farewell to thee, world of the curse,
Thou, breeze, blow away:
California--
Only California henceforth.
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