This is a poem I wrote about the Romans in Wales.
I dedicated it to Emperor Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig in Welsh)
who was based in Britain and features in the ancient book of Welsh myth The Mabinogion
where he falls in love with the beautiful maiden Helen.
The Romans in Wales
By Paul John Roach
They left voices in the leaves Echoing every year
For 2000 years.
How is it possible for them Still to be here?
The mud has curdled
The weeds grown
Around the laid stones
Of roads that paid no attention to topography But progressed for miles
Over hill
Through bog and peat and wood,
Built by the watchwords
Of commerce and control.
In the vale the harmony of the villa garden
In Welsh light,
On the hill the punishing rigor of the fortress And the stamping of the guard.
It was,no doubt, an agreement by the ruled, Letting words and ways enter, Accommodating, waiting.
When the Romans left
There was a gap in the wind,
New shadows in old corners,
The woods crawled down the mountain slopes, Poets sang,
Wells gurgled unexpectedly,
Another verse began.