Llanelli Via Yorkshire is a poem about coming home- written as part of a People Speak Up session. Image of Llanelli from oldukphotos.com
Bored in tin towns
with thin frowns
gathered gossips
in small towns
small minds
everyone knows your name
knows your shame
for some unknown reason
the opposite of cheers
I want to be in a place where
nobody knows your name
somewhere I can bury my shame
But in God’s own county
staring at peaks below and dales above
I felt hiraeth
gravitating towards Wales, Sheffield
This green and pretty steel city
was just a valley
magnified and blown up
accents changed
not a million miles from home
but still far enough away
to want to come back.
I searched for home
on the border
staring across the Dee.
I searched for home
in people
in faces
and places
I searched for home
in postcodes
I searched for home
back home
but eventually I realised
I’d never left
but eventually I realised
home was always in me.
❤