I'm proud to announce the publication of one of my poems. Indeed, this is my first poem to be published outside of my Blog. There was of course no fee, but I am nevertheless proud of the fact that the Editor of the Cambrian News chose to publish the poem on page 18 of the Thursday 28 March 2013 Edition of the newspaper (it hits the streets before its publication date).
I would have suspected that my poem about the 1972 Munich massacre would have been the first one to have been published, but alas I have not yet heard from my friends who were submitting that piece to a Jewish Society magazine in their part of the United Kingdom. Todays published work is titled in Welsh 'O Benrhyncoch', which means 'from Penrhyncoch'. In the Welsh language the 'P' becomes a 'B' after the letter 'o'. The rest of the poem is in English.
The poem consists of three stanza's each of five lines. The rhyming scheme A,B,A,B,C is used, where 'c' does not rhyme throughout. The poem tells the story of Rifleman Matthew Wilson from our village of Penrhyncoch (often referred to as Penrhyn) who recently won the Military Cross and was also given the Freedom of the County of Ceredigion. My favourite line is; "of rotor blades whooshing in the sun". The poem was submitted to the Cambrian News on the advice of my eldest daughter. I hope that you enjoy reading the poem as much as I enjoyed constructing it;
O Benrhyncoch
The snipers bullet had struck his head,
Leading to a short dreamlike state,
With others thinking he might be dead,
A different shot had struck his mate,
The one he had run to protect.
Never reckless but always brave,
He then chose to move into open ground,
To draw attention and thereby save,
His injured comrade, upon hearing the sound,
Of rotor blades whooshing in the sun.
The Military Cross is the just reward,
For young Rifleman Matthew Wilson,
The granted freedom forms part of the hoard,
Bestowed upon our soldier son,
Of this lush valley which nestles Penrhyn.
Roger Bennett
Penrhyncoch
March 2013
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