Welsh Country - Issue93 - Mar-Apr 20

welsh connections
“
the
Two lines of stone reach out from
entrance, beckoning me in.
”
around. The light is dimmed and the wind diminished. The
contrast between the open headland and this airless space is
palpable.
It’s empty now but I try to picture it with the meaningful
bones of those held in high esteem placed carefully around.
I close my eyes. I rest my hands on the cool stone. I try to
sense what it would feel like if I believed that, here, there
was an active two way communication between the living
and the ancestors. I wonder if this is even a distinction that
they would have acknowledged. What would I feel if I was a
conduit, between what lay inside this tomb and what moved
outside its walls? Perhaps a balance of responsibility and
power? Was the dominance of the past overwhelming? Did
the future need the permission of the past?
I can never hope to find the precise meaning neolithic
people made for this place, but we do have things in
common. We are a species that knows that we die and that
what is vital to us passes. As I age my mortality and what I
am to leave behind, grows in significance. We still fashion
caskets out of memories that we hope will carry on. We need
to find safe places for their keeping. And so did they. That
has endured across the many centuries between our times
and joins me with them.
I turn and clamber back out into the colour soaked world
of white clouds, a cyan sea and a jumble of emerald and
sage across the slopes of Carn Llidi. A single word rings in
my head; respect. Respect for what these people achieved
here. Respect for their venerated space, one that I have
learnt speaks across time.
Coetan Arthur by bsag on Foter.com
I walk back along the cliffs and turn to see, as its builders
would have done, Coetan Arthur silhouetted against the
cerulean sky. Four thousand years is not a long time.
Words: Robert Pickford
Illustration: Katie Radburn
St Davids Head, Pembrokeshire by Alan Denney on Foter.com
Mar - Apr 2020 15