Cefn Golau by Byron Beynon

Here the winter wind acts like a needle

against the wide skin of heathland,
a severe association with Welsh and English epitaphs

engraved during a malignant year;
networks of abandoned human bone and nerve
hidden within a shrouded moor,

shadows which turned away
from a marked silence
chilled as the cold air

surrounded the silhouettes of stone.
They remain forgotten,
in small, transient spaces,

a private darkness
indifferent to the terrain of constellations,
their untenable lives over, the quiet,

colourless dead, oblivious and equal,
while the livid sweep of snow continued falling,
echoing slowly their descent.

*Cefn Golau is Welsh for The Bright Ridge and is a disused cholera cemetery in South East Wales. The graves date from 1832 to 1855

Byron Beynon's work has appeared in several publications including Poppy Road Review, London Magazine, The Yellow Nib, Crannog, Plainsongs and The Muse (India). Also the human rights anthology In Protest (University of London and Keats House Poets).  He co-ordinated (on behalf of The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea) Wales's contribution to the anthology Fifty Strong (Heinemann). Collections include The Sundial (Flutter Press), Cuffs (Rack Press) and The Echoing Coastline (Agenda Editions).