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

(to accompany the Gallery of ‘Community Champions during COVID’ in the Senedd, November – December 2020. Commissioned by Welsh Government and Literature Wales. English translation by Ifor ap Glyn. )