Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed...

It has been a while since I have published any poetry.  So far, the poetic offerings have not included any about Wales, and while this is not ABOUT Wales, it was written by the man considered to be the greatest of all Welsh writers and poets.

Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914.  Born into a family who spoke both Welsh and English, the young Thomas' strongest subject at school was English.  After an unsuccessful venture into journalism, he concentrated on his writing, with the play Under Milk Wood being his best-known work.  Under Milk Wood actually took many years to complete, with the origins being in a piece written at school when he was just 17.

Sadly, a somewhat wild lifestyle was to take its toll, and on 9 November, 1953, at the age of 39, Dylan Thomas died.  Causes of death were given as pneumonia, pressure on the brain, and a "fatty liver".

Dylan Thomas wrote a number of poems, including Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed, written in 1943.



Lie still, sleep becalmed, sufferer with the wound
In the throat, burning and turning.  All night afloat
On the silent sea we have heard the sound
That came from the wound wrapped in the salt sheet.

Under the mile off moon we trembled listening
To the sea sound flowing like blood from the loud wound
And when the salt sheet broke in a storm of singing
The voices of all the drowned swam on the wind.

Open a pathway through the slow sad sail,
Throw wide to the wind the gates of the wandering boat,
For my voyage to begin to the end of my wound,
We heard the sea sound sing, we saw the salt sheet tell.
Lie still, sleep becalmed, hide the mouth in the throat,
Or we shall obey, and ride with you through the drowned.