This year has seen many ordinary people do extraordinary things to ensure the wellbeing and safety of our communities.
'Good-turn energy' is a translation of 'Egni Cymwynas', a poem by Ifor ap Glyn, the National poet of Wales written to accompany our online portrait gallery showcasing community champions from across Wales.
Good-turn energy
Stadium Wales is a land laid dark,
yet a cauldron of potential…
(though no band is due to play)
Amongst the empty seating,
the echo of a crowd long-gone
swells to chorus;
and sparks of ancient kindness
kindle thousands of tiny lights.
Such is the force in each benevolent act -
the surreptitious voltage
coursing through our land,
in prescription-fetching,
neighbours-shopping;
the heart-to-heart sharing
like an unprompted rose;
and the circuit completes,
when we link arm-in-arm,
from afar…
And as we relearn
the new worlds of our former haunts,
challenged by new maps,
despite the strangeness
of virtual hugs,
and the tedium
of each temporary lockdown,
good turns still generate a jolt:
- like touching the sun with a finger-tip! -
and Wales shines on in their wake...
Ifor ap Glyn
Bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru / National Poet of Wales
This is a poem by National Poet of Wales, Ifor ap Glyn, commissioned by Literature Wales and the Senedd Commission.
The National Poet of Wales initiative is delivered by Literature Wales.
