Dear All,
Today is St David’s Day so good wishes to all those who are proud to be Welsh – thoroughly Welsh, or just with a drop or two of Welsh blood – and to all of us who love Wales – its beauty, its musicality, its poetry, its history, its sport or whatever! Every year on 1 March, Wales celebrates St David’s Day. Events across Wales today will celebrate the greatest figure in the Welsh Age of Saints. He established many religious communities and gives his name to the smallest city in Britain.
However, much of what we ‘sort of know’ about David is based on the Latin writings of Rhygyfarch some 500 years after St David lived!
Today’s reflections include some of the themes David is known for, focusing particularly on poets and beauty. There is an interesting re-take on the creation story – I found it very moving.
The blessing is a favourite of mine: Rutter’s Clare Blessing. Could I suggest we pray it for all our Welsh contacts & for peace in the many areas of conflict in our world at this time.
With love to you all
Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday & we will be having a ‘zoomed’ reflection at 7.30pm that evening.
ALL WELCOME – NO NEED TO BOOK – ZOOM LINK BELOW
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81884861499?pwd=bapXKFiehXBjaXAKjHCWcEUUuxlqbl.1
Beauty, maybe, is one of the consequences of the divine inbreathing in the Genesis story of the creation. We read in Ecclesiastes, ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time,’ and in the psalms we find, ’ One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord….. ‘ .
Out of the divine bounty we all have a spark or a seed of this beauty breathed into us. This spark or seed of beauty needs to be catalyzed or triggered off in such a way that beauty comes alive for us & transforms us. For many of us today beauty is seen as something outside us – and so it is – in nature, in music, in poetry, in art – and in the beauty of another person. But we seem to have lost an awareness that the essence of beauty lies in the depths of our being and rarely do we become the beauty we observe & long for.
An adaptation of William Sykes Reflection on Beauty
A Couple of Welsh Poets
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning
they do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieve it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
One of the most famous Welsh poems of all time, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, speaks to the indomitable spirit of the Welsh people. Thomas implores his dying father to fight against the inevitable, urging him to rage against the dying light. This powerful poem encapsulates the Welsh determination and resilience in the face of adversity.
“Fern Hill”
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes.”
An excerpt from another Dylan Thomas poem ‘Fern Hill’, which takes us on a nostalgic journey through the poet’s childhood memories of a farm called Fern Hill. This beautifully crafted poem celebrates the innocence and joy of youth, evoking the idyllic landscapes of Wales.
And RS Thomas – ‘The Welsh Hill Country’.
Too far for you to see
The fluke and the foot-rot and the fat maggot
Gnawing the skin from the small bones,
The sheep are grazing at Bwlch-y-Fedwen,
Arranged romantically in the usual manner
On a bleak background of bald stone.”
R. S. Thomas, a renowned Welsh poet, often explored themes of Welsh identity and the relationship between people and nature. In “The Welsh Hill Country,” he paints a stark yet vivid picture of the Welsh countryside. Thomas’s words display the harsh realities of rural life, with a touch of melancholy and a deep appreciation for the natural beauty found within the Welsh hills.
Welsh poetry is a treasure trove of emotions, history, and love for the land. From Dylan Thomas’s powerful and passionate verses to R. S. Thomas’s introspective reflections, these poets have gifted us with timeless works that celebrate the beauty of Wales.
Prayer for the feast of St David
God our Father,
You called your servant David to uphold the Christian faith amongst the people of Wales,
– to encourage them by his observance of fasting and obedience,
– to show them compassion through small acts of great love.
As light is poured onto the mountain-tops and as fresh rain is sprinkled on the hills, help us to be good carers of one another and of your great and glorious Creation.
Amen
A Labour of Love
Kathy Galloway
Once upon a time,
in the beginning,
a labour of love was undertaken.
It started with a sign,
to show something was about to happen.
Light came forth from the deep darkness,
bright, clear and unmistakable.
And it was very good.
At the second time,
the waters were broken.
At first, they gushed,
then they dried to a trickle,
and a space was created.
It was exactly the right size.
By now creation was well underway.
And it was very good.
At the third time
a cradle was made ready.
It was comfortable, beautiful and waiting.
And food was prepared,
issuing warmly and sweetly
and in precisely the right measure
from the being of the labourer.
And it was very good.
At the fourth time,
rhythm was established,
ebbing and flowing, contracting and expanding,
pain and joy, sun and moon,
beginning and ending.
The labour of love progressed.
And it was very good.
At the fifth time,
there was ceaseless activity:
fluttering like the wings of a dove,
humming like the mummering of the dragonfly,
swimming like the darting golden fish,
wriggling like the lithe serpent,
And it was very good.
At the sixth time,
there was momentary, endless hesitation.
then a child was born.
And the child looked just like the one who had given it life.
The child, too, was born with the power to create,
and to make decisions,
and to love.
The labourer looked at all that had been accomplished,
and rejoiced,
for it was very good.
The task was complete,
and the labourer rested,
for she was very, very tired.