If seeing songs grow is your thing,
where better than this annual show,
which sets out stalls across town
so tunes can stand tall?
Where countless notes, like old acquaintance
come together in chords,
and the noisy colours of their refrains
revolve slowly round your head
like flower baskets that’ve slipped their chains…
If planting melody’s your thing,
best take the grudging soil of a town like this
where riffs take root
in cracked concrete solidity
in wayward estates, a path to liberty.
And you’ll have your opportunity here for allotment chats:
how the others mulch their talent;
how they graft each influence;
as you look at vocal mixtures
and listen to their pictures…
And if cultivating tunes is your thing,
then Wrexham will be your seed bank;
after three glorious days
listening to the flowers sing,
let’s go forth, one and all,
with our packets of new ideas
ready for next spring.
Ifor ap Glyn
Bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru | National Poet of Wales
(To celebrate Focus Wales’ 10th festival in Wrexham, 7-9.10.21. Translated from the original Welsh by Ifor ap Glyn.)