R S Thomas - Poet and Priest at Hanmer

R S Thomas, poet and priest

R S Thomas was curate of Hanmer from 1940-42. Here he first developed his own strong poetic Welsh voice.
Standing outside his rectory at Tallarn Green in Hanmer he was able to watch and pray as the flashes and thumps came from bombs falling in the far distance on Liverpool docks. His pacifism clashed with the patriotic fervour of the times. I like to imagine the young curate sitting alone in a back pew at Tallarn Green Church after evensong as the shadows gather and writing these words.

Often I try
To analyse the quality
Of its silences. Is this where God hides
From my searching? I have stopped to listen,
After the few people have gone,
To the air recomposing itself
For vigil. It has waited like this
Since the stones grouped themselves about it.
These are the hard ribs
Of a body that our prayers have failed
To animate. Shadows advance
From the corners to take possession
Of places the light held
For an hour. The bats resume
Their business. The uneasiness of the pews
Ceases. There is no other sound
In the darkness but the sound of a man
Breathing, testing his faith
On emptiness, nailing his questions
One by one to an untenanted cross.

We host talks about his work regularly. The last was a talk in May 2009 by Peter Trinder of Gresford on the three great Welsh Poets, R S Thomas, Dylan Thomas, and Edward Thomas.

Updated 4th August 2011 by Bill Barlow

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