HIRAETH ( WELSH FOR NOSTALGIA )

 " HIRAETH "   ( WELSH FOR NOSTALGIA )    TIM WILLIAMS    FEB. 2014

THROUGH THESE RUSTING THREADBARE BINOCULARS
I SEE, THE HEART OF WALES BEATING, PUMPING,
COURSING CELTIC RED BLOOD,
THROUGH THE VALLEY'S VANQUISHED VEINS
DRIP FEEDING HWYL AND HIRAETH INTO
OPEN AND EXPOSED VENTRICLES

I SEE THE HEARTH OF THE HOME
THE HEART OF THE HOUSE, THE FIRE
RISING, WITHIN ALL THOSE BORN AND PROPAGATED
UNDER THE UNFURLED BANNER OF THE DRAGON
SHELTERING UNDER THE WINGSPANS SHADOW, CWTCHED
AND PROTECTED BY THE BREATH OF IT'S FURNACE

THE SMOKE THAT ROSE BILLOWING INTO THE
REVOLUTION OF INDUSTRIAL SKIES,
MEN SWEATED OVER THE MERTHYR FURNACE
HEAT, STOKED BY COALS EXTRACTED FROM
CAVERNOUS PITS UNDER OUR WEBBED BLACK FEET
ANOINTED BY FROWNING FOREHEAD CYCLOPIC LAMPS

VESTED TO THE BELT BUCKLED WASTE THEY
CRAWLED IN FOUR FOOT MIDGET 
SIZED SEAMS, TO DIG FUEL FOR THE WELSH FLAME,
THEY LIVED, LOVED,DRANK AND DIED WITHIN
A MILE OF WHERE THEIR TOBACCO TWIST
BROWN / BLACK SPIT FELL , EYE'S RAISED TO THE LORD

FOR I WAS BORN WELSH AND PROUD
I STAND IN THE ELONGATED SHADOW OF
THE DRAGONS WINGS, THE VESTRIED MEN
THE VALLEY MOUNTAINS, WASHED CLEAN AND CLEANSED
BY THE CYMRIC WATERFALLS, STOOD
STOCK STILL IN MY WELSH WOOLEN SOCKS