‘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                                          

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