Idris Davies' poetry has featured onthese pages before, and, no doubt, will again.
Gwalia means 'Wales', Gwalia Deserta is the name of a collection of Davies' poems.
GWALIA DESERTA VIII
(Idris Davies)
Do you remember 1926? That summer of soups and speeches,
The sunlight on the idle wheels and the deserted crossings,
And the laughter and the cursing in the moonlight streets?
Do you remember 1926? The slogans and the penny concerts,
The jazz-bands and the moorland picnics,
And the slanderous tongues of famous cities?
Do you remember 1926? The great dream and the swift disaster,
The fanatic and the traitor, and more than all,
The bravery of the simple, faithful folk?
‘Ay, ay, we remember 1926,’ said Dai and Shinkin,
As they stood on the kerb in Charing Cross Road,
“And we shall remember 1926 until our blood is dry.”
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About Me
- Jemmy Hope
- "Grandad's swearing at the telly..." (Alan Klein, "What a Crazy World.") Old, tired and somewhat disillusioned, but trying to keep up standards. Aware that capitalism cannot be reformed, but despairing of its dissolution in the near future, I use whatever means are available to me to avoid capitulation. I join forces with other resisters in the Industrial Workers of the World.
7 comments:
Two posts in one week!
Glad to see your still posting Jemmy.
Idris Davies always welcome
My grandfather's brother was called Idris, also from the Rhymney, although since I never met or knew of him until I was in my twenties I'd always assumed it to be a North African name.
Interesting to read that Idris Davies became unemployed as a miner just after the great strike of 1926. He then managed to get educated and become a teacher. I doubt that would be an affordable path now for someone from such a background.
Cheers, Chris! Glad to know you're keeping an eye on things. I've been a bit lethargic of late.
You're right, Idris is a North African and Middle Eastern(Muslim) name. But it's also Welsh, I quote -
"Idris, the legendary giant who used Cader Idris as his set (cadair)."
No hint at meaning though.
"set" should be seat.
Thought I'd add some of this here poetry to my blog over at https://thesignofthecross.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/a-days-work-at-the-docks/
I thought you had another blog, Chris. I'll pay a visit and link to it.
I had too many going Jemmy, had to concentrate on one. Then I switched from Blogger to Wordpress as Google seem not to care about the Blogger platform.
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