As St David’s day sighs at a second empty summer,
‘community’ is our rainbow through the covid mist,
wrapping us with our part of the world,
as we try to ‘do the little things’,
to be responsible ancestors, uncleft
from this terrain that we hold – and the language we have left.
Lockdown’s not for the loquacious
in Saesneg, or Cymraeg,
spoken contact’s on the slide
and thus, language is lost,
receding with each hesitant garden-end-farewell,
with each window-mimed kiss,
word by unused word…
but it can be reclaimed, word by word
if we ‘do the little things’…
Because Welsh belongs to all of us,
whether we speak it or not;
we taste it, each trip from Bargoed to Beddau,
Rhostyllen to Rhydymwyn,
with Lowri, Rhys or Nia.
This is no unknown tongue,
just one that we’ve forgotten,
so, let’s ‘do the little things!’
– give your Welsh a cwtsh, off we go, dim problem,
let’s start each email ‘Annwyl Syr neu Fadam’,
let’s have ‘National Diolch yn Fawr Week’
and ‘Welsh on Wednesdays’ – why not?
Let’s ‘do the little things’(it’s not asking a lot)
and we’ll build back better
in the republic of our truth,
beneath a new rainbow of multi-hued words
and you only need seven to make a start…
Ifor ap Glyn
Bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru / National Poet of Wales
(Comissioned by BBC Cymru Wales to note St David’s Day 2021)