Socialism proposes the transformation of human beings into living poems - Octavio Paz, Mexican surrealistBELLS OF RHYMNEY
(Idris Davies)
Oh what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Is there hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr.
Who made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda.
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.
They will plunder willy-nilly,
Cry the bells of Caerphilly.
They have fangs, they have teeth,
Say the loud bells of Neath.
Even God is uneasy,
Say the moist bells of Swansea.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney
Put the vandals in courtSay the bells of Newport.
All would be well if, if, if,
Cry the green bells of Cardiff.
Why so worried, sisters, why?
Sang the silver bells of Wye.
And what will you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.
Idris Davies was self-taught. His poetry chronicles the decay and social breakdown of Wales in the 20s and 30s . He began work as a miner after leaving school at the age of 14. The defeat of the General Strike of 1926 (see poem below) broke his spirit. He took a correspondence course and left Wales to become a teacher in England.
As to the bells themselves the bells of Brecon and Wye are off the South Wales coalfield, which meant that they could be happy without the mass unemployment endured by the coalfield to the south. Neath is in the anthracite coalfield of South Wales, which didn't experience the depression of the 20s and 30s so severely. Caerphilly is just off the coalfield. Many miners from Merthyr and Rhymney traveled to pits in the Neath valley at that time. At this time the British government was talking of closing down Merthyr and transporting the people to England- hence the brown bells. This is not a 'song' by miners this is a poem by a great poet who happened to be a miner that expressess a great biterness and hurt.The poem was borrowed by an American singer. Nothing wrong with that.
The miners were called, "the worms of the earth". The poem ends defiantly.
Do you remember 1926? That summer of soups and speeches,
The sunlight on the idle wheels and the deserted crossings,
And the laughter and the cursing in the moonlit streets?
Do you remember 1926? The slogans and the penny concerts,
The jazz-bands and the moorland picnics,
And the slanderous tongues of famous cities?
Do you remember 1926? The great dream and the swift disaster,
The fanatic and the traitor, and more than all,
The bravery of the simple, faithful folk? "
Ay, ay, we remember 1926," said Dai and Shinkin,
As they stood on the kerb in Charing Cross Road, "
And we shall remember 1926 until our blood is dry."
