R.S.Thomas

As it is another miserably cold day, the seagulls are already wheeling overhead to snatch the bread that I have thrown out in the garden, perhaps Thomas can add to the mood of it..

The Island,

And God said, I will build a church here

And cause this people to worship me,

And afflict them with poverty and sickness

In return for centuries of hard work

And patience. And its walls shall be hard as

Their hearts, and its window let in the light

Grudgingly, as their minds do, and the priest's words be drowned

By the wind's caterwauling. All this I will do.

Said God, and watch the bitterness in their eyes

Grow, and their lips suppurate with

Their prayers. And their women shall bring forth

On my altars, and I will choose the best

Of them to be thrown back into the sea.

And that was only on one island.

R.S.Thomas, Anglican minister in Wales, ordained 1937. To quote "he was troubled by religious doubts which could not be easily revealed to those whose faith was more fervent" One wonders why he stayed in the job, his sensitive poetry shows a soul in torment but also the great pity he felt for the people he lived amongst, the places in which they lived "harsh, depopulated and deprived" . Codlins and Cream ( http://codlinsandcream.blogspot.com/)

excellent essays on the ruined cottages that can still be found in the landscape shows how many a Welsh family foundered and failed.

There is also George Monbiot's excellent essay this morning on railways in Wales, headed by a revival of another priest!

The Open Veins of Wales

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/12/the-open-veins-of-wales/