Penmaenmawr

[hillwalker]

PENMAENMAWR

A granite headstone
grey as gravity
hewn from the distant mountains
racing headlong for the sea…..

The ‘Bell’ clock
perched on the scowling slopes
with hands that bite off every hour
like chisels at the quarry face.


H

[dafydd manton]

Perfect! The Bell "biting off" every quarter hour, the granite, the slate, the steep, scarred hillside, you've done it perfectly. Mae hen wlad fy nhadau indeed!!

[hillwalker]

Thanks daf, give it a wave from me next time you drive past along the A55.

[dafydd manton]

If I do, it'll be at 60 MPH on my way back to Caernarfon!

[hillwalker]

You've not heard about the latest road works then! Gridlock West of St Asaph as far as Colwyn Bay on a good day..... on a bad day I dread to think.

[dafydd manton]

Thanks - to tell you the truth I usually go via Llangollen, Carrog, and all points north from there. Far more picturesque, and much more fun.

[Delta40]

granite as rock is very hard to wear down and your description of the clockhands chiselling away gives such a good effect to the meaning of labour and time.

[Hawkman]

Powerful description, hill and deeply evocative. thanks, H

[dafydd manton]

Scarred, beautiful Gwalia at her most ravaged. Treuni mawr!

[Jerrybaldy]

Is this site available in English?
I also liked the imagery of the hands that bite off every hour.
And I am grateful there wasnt a bloody dragon in that quarry :thumbsup:

[angliholic]

I sense sadness and poignancy in this piece, but it's beautifully and well-crafted!
Thanks, Hillwalker, I love this one.
It also reminds me of the heavenly beauty and peace of Weles and England! I went there many years ago!

[dafydd manton]

Mae hi'n a ddraig goch yn y chwarel, Jerry! Don't look over your shoulder....too late!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! (How sad! Never assume that there is no dragon........)

[Jerrybaldy]

As a goblin, myself, I am yet to see one

[dafydd manton]

Dragons eat goblins for breakfast, mate. With eggs and tomatoes, mushrooms and toast.

[Jerrybaldy]

I have met enough dragons to know that they are best conquered by leaving them :)

[dafydd manton]

So wise, in one so young (and unmolested!) Dragons love places like Penmaenmawr, because it is so desolate.

[PrinceMyshkin]

This is so spare it reads as if you had to chisel it on to a tablet.

[Jerrybaldy]

I see Daf, like those trees that fall soundlessly as nobody is there to hear them..

[PrinceMyshkin]

I see Daf, like those trees that fall soundlessly as nobody is there to hear them..

And if there were no one here to read your post, would it still be here?

[dafydd manton]

If a man , alone in a wood says something, and his wife is not there, is he still wrong?

[Lokasenna]

It's weird seeing my bit of Wales starting to appear on the internet.

Great poem!

[hillwalker]

@Delta, Hawk, angliholic - many thanks for your generous comments

@Jerry - there be no dragons here now (unless you count Gladys who works in the newsagents)

@Prince - thank you also - there was a little chiselling involved to cut this into shape, but a mere tap here and there if I'm honest

@Lokasenna - (a late arrival - hence this edit) - thanks also for your comment. As one who knows the area perhaps you should now pen a little piece; spread the word.

[Delta40]

did I say I posted an old story called Smiling Dragons because of your poem Hill? yes, probably somewhere else (promise I'm not copying my own stuff!)

[hillwalker]

did I say I posted an old story called Smiling Dragons because of your poem Hill? yes, probably somewhere else (promise I'm not copying my own stuff!)

Hehe, I think one is allowed to copy ones own stuff - but perhaps it was Hawkman's brilliant dragon poems that provided the inspiration?

[Lokasenna]

@Lokasenna - (a late arrival - hence this edit) - thanks also for your comment. As one who knows the area perhaps you should now pen a little piece; spread the word.

Well, this poem was written last year on the beach on the western side of the Great Orme, looking out towards Pen:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43097

[Delta40]

Hawkwalker and Hillman...I don't know whether I'm arthur or martha with you two!