Hiraeth

(On Leaving The Valley - an impromptu poem)

Cardiff is where I am from
Its streets once paved with hearts of gold

Still everyone calls you love
Across the valley
Invisible lights strung along invisible cables

Radiate a warmth that carries a local love
And in this expansive land
Where coastlines and mountains meet
Welsh is its first language

That speaks of tales of old
A country whose gentle heart beats

With a strength that holds more than daffodils and sheep
It’s its beauty, peace and enduring grit

That keeps these nerves unsplit and stems this foreign heart’s bleeding