‘Common People’ by Peter Jones
© Peter Jones 2020
Translation Jenni Wyn Hyatt
First published in “Eating at My Nan’s”, Winter Crow Press 2020
A statue of Daniel Owen stands in Daniel Owen Square in Mold, Flintshire. The inscription reads in English, Welsh and Latin “Not for the wise and learned have I written but for the common people”
Glaslwyn was his bardic name which he used when he began writing poetry as a young man. ‘Glaslwyn’ is the Welsh word for a sapling.
Common People
you stand in silence
watching people pass

some unknowing
others nod in appreciation
despite your stare
marketeers are indifferent
surrounded by your deeds
life goes on
years have passed
since Glaslwyn picked up the pen
for the common people
Y Werin Bobl
safwch yn dawel
yn gwylio pobl yn pasio
rhai’n ddiarwybod
eraill yn dangos gwerthfawrogiad

er gwaetha eich llygadrythiad
di-hid mae’r marchnatwyr
wedi ei amgylchu gan eich gweithgareddau
mae bywyd yn mynd yn ei flaen
aethai blynyddoedd heibio
er pan gododd Glaslwyn ei ysgrifbin
ar ran y werin bobl