On Being Welsh
I am the all-seeing eyes at the tip of Worm’s Head;
I am the teeth of the rocks at Rhossili;
I am the blackness in Pwll Ddu pool
when the sea-swells suck the stranger
in and out, sanding his bones.
Song pulled taut from a dark Welsh lung,
I am the memories of Silure and beast
mingled in a Gower Cave;
tamer of aurox,
hunter of deer,
caretaker of coracle
fisher of salmon on the Abertawe tide,
I am the weaver of rhinoceros wool.
I am the minority,
persecuted for my faith,
for my language, for my sex,
for the coal-dark of my thoughts;
I am the bard whose harp,
strung like a bow,
will sing your death
with music of arrows
from the wet Welsh woods;
I am the barb that sticks in your throat
from the dark worded ambush of my song.
rogermoorepoet 
What is the rhinoceros reference?
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Bones of the now extinct Woolly Rhinoceros have been found in the older Gower caves along with human bones and other specimens associated with the fading of the last ice age.
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I was in Wales in the day of and the day after the Brexit visiting family. I was surprised that Wales voted for it. Mind you my family lives close to the border and the town has grown in size and the English have moved in English masse. Great poem.
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Now you’ve got me going: where in Wales? You’d better send me an e-mail and we’ll continue this discussion offline! Cymru am Byth!
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Replied
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Oh, love this. I would have loved to hear you read it in that Welsh accent!
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The reading is on QuickTime, but you need a Mac to listen. The QT is no longer supporting PCs. I may well try to re-record it, just to see what happens. This is the link: https://moore.lib.unb.ca/poet/VR2_Welsh.html There are six or seven Welsh poems here. Best wishes,
Roger.
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Thanks, Roger. I don’t have a mac, but I will try anyway.
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No…it wouldn’t allow me to read. Maybe they can be converted somehow. I don’t understand all the tech behind these things…Lol
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Apparaently Apple stopped all tech support for QT on PCs as there were some virus problems. I did all my early recordings on the IMac, and am therefore trapped, unless I redo the work I already did. maybe I will. Oh technology!
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Ahhhh! Love it! Wish I could hear the spoken word!
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I do get going when I read this one! Here’s the QuickTime link. But it won’t work on PC anymore.
https://moore.lib.unb.ca/poet/VR2_Welsh.html
I just wish the Apple people had kept the QT virus free for other users. I’ll write a separate e-mail, too.
best wishes and thank you so much for that earlier Ping! It was wonderful.
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Excellent! You’re very welcome; I ordered my copy today. Always happy to share my favorite things!
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Beautiful, Roger. Beautiful.
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Thanks, John. The subtitle reads (in a land ruled by the English). I left it out this time. One of my favorites. I read it in a STRONG Welsh accent. With a little bit of hwyl.
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