Monday 27 June 2016

Quarrying Slate


House


Back garden


Front garden


Quarrying Slate

You were tied to this house 
Where sheep and their lambs
Now shelter and graze
- Roofless today - 

A new station nearby
Is where tourists 
Arrive  
 "Who lived in that house?"

For the world you made slates 
And you too had a roof 
And four walls
- God knows not much else - 

Apart from your Sundays 
Which always were dry
  For repeated long walks  
- The chapel on high - 

Sunday pint at the inn 
The last preacher long gone 
 Soon my train will arrive
 - You will greet me anon - 


A visitor 






10 comments:

  1. Simply beautiful. Don’t know how one could leave it.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Donal. Heartbreakingly beautiful is much of Wales. Here's to hiraeth!

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  2. I don't know why but I think of the Welsh as a grim people. Maybe that's Wales of long ago.

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    Replies
    1. Grim? Bryn Terfel, Max Boyce, Harry Seacombe, Dylan Thomas, Tom Jones, Gareth Bale, Richard Burton . . . OK maybe the Tudors were grim, I'll give you that :) but as you say 'twas long ago.

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  3. Those Welsh quarries provided roofing slate to the world. Now mother nature landscapes them. Great poem.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave, and as you correctly say Wales roofed the world. Some of the bigger slate quarries like Ffestiniog now have mountain bike tracks. I think there's even a lift to take them to the top so they can hurtle back down. Sounds like fun if your a bit nuts. I prefer the running trails myself.

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