For David Idris [Taffy] Williams

Why do pretentious new-wave Bardic evangelists,

rage about the travails of ancient heroes ad nauseam?

Why do they spout in woeful and wearisome Welsh?

Did they do a soul-searing summer school semester

at colourless Cardiff or smoky Swansea university?

Did they penetrate the chilling mists of mythology?

Did they swear an oath to the portentous Plaid Cumru

to scour the verdant countryside for rustic dwellings,

bought by innocent Britons, and put them to the torch?

Do they proudly sing of ‘Men of Harlech’ to seem heroic? 

Or get tired and emotional with ‘we’ll keep a welcome in

hillside and vale’. Do they really ‘keep a welcome anywhere?

Do they have an auntie in Aberdyfi who despises Dylan

because he used the language of perfidious albionites?

Do they, in turn, revile Welsh actors who abandon Wales

for the glamour of London or for the wealth of new York

and who set aside the harmonious sounds of ‘the Welsh’

for the nasal, Elgin Marble mouthing of pretentious people.

Do they read the Mabinogion until its incandescent spirit

rises from them like a primal screaming, burning brand,

or because it’s fashionable to chant it at all-Welsh nights,

at the club or at the glorious wining of the Triple Crown,

to claim the ancient rites and to be superior to the traitors

who speak ‘English’ because the rest of the world does.

Footnote: The French used to refer to Britain as ‘Perfidious Albion’ and the British Foreign Office as ‘steeped in perfidy’.