TRUTH

He was in the fields, when I set out.
He was in the fields, when I came back.
In between, what long hours,
What centuries might have elapsed.
Did he look up? His arm half
Lifted was more to ward off
My foolishness. You will return,
He intimated; the heart's roots
Are here under this black soil
I labour at. A change of wind
Can bring the smooth town to a stop;
The grass whispers beneath the flags;
Every right word on your tongue
Has a green taste. It is the mind
Calling you, eager to paint
Its distances; but the truth's here,
Closer than the world will confess,
In this bare bone of life that I pick.

"'Green' seems to signify Welshness in Thomas's imagery"
(Elaine Shepherd, (MacMillan Press Ltd, 1996), p.195)

"When they were working, fighting, drinking,
I was in the greenwood, thinking
Thought to the bone. c
I was on my knees, thanking
For such grace as I had then."
('Pharisee, Twentieth Century')

"Truth,"
from The Bread of Truth
You can also find this in
COLLECTED POEMS 1945-1990(J.M.Dent, 1993).

Background image: Mid Welsh hills
This photo was taken in 2003 by Yoshifum! Nagata.