Monday, June 29, 2015

R.S. THOMAS ~







R S Thomas and Mildred Eldridge at Tallarn Vicarage 1940





That Day



Stopped the car, asked a man the way

To some place; he rested on it

Smiling, an impression of charm

As of ripe fields; talking to us

He held a reflection of the sky

In his brushed eyes. We lost interest

In the way, seeing him old

And content, feeling the sun's warmth

In his voice, watching the swallows

Above him — thirty years back

To this summer. Knowing him gone,

We wander the same flower-bordered road,

Seeing the harvest ripped from the land,

Deafened by the planes' orchestra;

Unable to direct the lost travellers

Or convince them this is a good place to be.




___________________


R.S. Thomas

H'm

Macmillan London, 1972



http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/r-s-thomas