Home*
aaaaaaaFrom poem to film...
The
acclaimed Welsh poet Patrick Jones has written a poem to support the Tredegar
Development Trust and Community First project to restore the building,
10 The Circle.
Read his words below...
The poem has been turned into a short film by Catapult, the Trust's resource
centre based at Commercial Street, Tredegar. Catapult learners also helped
to make the award-winning film 'Envy of the World'
To view the 'circles of light' film, visit the Catapult section of the Tredegar Development Trust website www.tredegar.org.uk and click on the 'Watch and listen' box and then on the cine camera symbol and choose the 'circles of light' film.
If
you want to become a film-maker, take the first step and contact Catapult
for information about other film-making projects. Please telephone 01495
711499 or pop into the Catapult centre at 7-9 Commercial Street, Tredegar,
NP22 3DH during office hours.
circles
of light
by Patrick Jones
throw
a pebble in Waun y pound pond
and wait
watch the circles, ever increasing,
unafraid spirals, craving
the future, flowing
searching incessant for the shore
strong like a suture, growing
like the drop of a seed
thrown in the dying valley so very long ago
a simple plan
to help our fellow woman and man,
to care for the old, the sick, the needy
a unity, forged from the mould of dignity
a battle waged for justice and equality
against the powerful and greedy
a circle of trust
beneath the clock that ever watches
a spinning top placed precariously upon the precipice
of indecision
the eyes and minds of ordinary people with a stirring vision
throw a pebble into Waun y pound
and close your eyes and wait for the sound
of responsibility to neighbours in Tredegar town
and all around
see the ripples race pouring to the other side
helping hands to shoulder the plight
of
sickness and unemployment
giving a sense of community
growing out of the capitalist servility
a model for the world,
to fellow man
and from the pebble in the pond
another wave is launched, another idea untethered
with the passion and vitriol of Aneurin Bevan
who took the pebble and made it a rock
and threw it to the world, there was no going back
free at the point of need
the ripples spread like a blanket
over the sickly land
bones set, disease eased and children fed
the pebble in the pond had risen,
built by many hands
becoming an island
where all were welcome
to save and protect
to cure and prevent
and as today the cycle of poverty moves again
from Rhyl to Rhymney
Baghdad
to Washington D.C.
to Africa and Bosnia
machete cuts and chemical weapons
waves of disease and circles of pain
again and again and again
so let it be said
it is time to smash this cycle
to heal the scars and wash the wounds
and
to remember the pebble in the pond
number 10, the circle and how it was to be
the first attempt to make poverty, history
"Tre" is welsh for home
and "Cefn Golau" means hillside of light
so let us commemorate
the home of the hill of the shining light
so
hold the magnifying glass in the sunline
and channel the ochre glow upon the paper
as only from the tiniest point
can flames burn
and from the smallest circle
the fuse is lit
a beacon unto the world
a home for the National Health Service
to show that every country needs this
and from preserving the past
we feel the river of tomorrow
pour forth
and attempt to remove our future sorrow
throw a pebble in Waun y pound pond
and wait................
by
Patrick Jones
commissioned by Tredegar Development Trust
December 2005
