Post War Career
After the war, Cynan entered Coleg y Bala to train for the ministry of The Presbyterian Church of Wales. He was ordained at Penmaenmawr Caernarfonshire in 1920 where he served as minister until 1931 when he relinquished his calling having been appointed a tutor in the Extramural Department of the University College of North Wales specialising in Drama and Welsh Literature. Despite having given up his ministry Cynan continued to accept regular preaching engagements, and was one of the most popular preachers of his day on the nonconformist preaching circuit in Wales.
Whilst working in the University, Cynan lived in Menai Bridge Anglesey, but in his best known poem he expressed a wish to retire to Aberdaron Caernarfonshire,
Pan fwyf yn hen a pharchus
Ac arian yn fy nghod,
A phob beirniadaeth drosodd
A phawb yn canu 'nghlod
Mi brynaf fwthyn unig
Heb ddim o flaen y ddôr.
Ond creigiau Aberdaron
A thonnau Gwyllt y Môr
When I am old and reverend
With money to my name,
With all my judgments over
Yet basking in my fame:
I'll buy a lonely cottage
With nothing 'fore its door,
But the rocks of Aberdaron
And the ocean's maddened roar.
translation by Robin ap Cynan
Read more about this topic: Albert Evans-Jones
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