WELCOME

You can come in.
You can come a long way;
We can't stop you.
You can come up the roads
Or by railway;
You can land from the air.
You can walk this country
From end to end;
But you won't be inside;
You must stop at the bar,
The old bar of speech.

We have learnt your own
Language, but don't
Let it take you in;
It's not what you mean,
It's what you pay with
Everywhere you go,
Pleased at the price
In shop windows.
There is no way there;
Past town and factory
You must travel back
To the cold bud of water
In the hard rock.






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

background image: mid wales (2003)