Vernon Watkins

From Peace in the Welsh Hills

Here, where the earth is green,
where heaven is true
Opening the windows,
touched with earliest dawn,
In the first frost of cool September days,
Chrysanthemum weather,
presaging great birth,
Who in his heart could murmur or complain;
'The light we look for is not in this land?'
That light is present, and that distant time
Is always here, continually redeemed.

Vernon Watkins - a "cousin" whose talent for English verse put him in company with the likes of Dylan Thomas and Ceri Richards. Born in 1906 to a family whose father was a bank manager in Uplands, Vernon has come to be described in the annals of literary history as one of the greatest Welsh poets.

A soft demeanor and gentle face gives us a glimpse of a kind soul who was at times caught up in an inner battle - between his surroundings and occupation (he worked for Lloyds Bank) and that of his passion for writing and painting.

His generosity towards the Dylan Thomas family is appreciated in a quote regarding the Thomas' stay at Sea View: "Thanks in particular to the assistance of Vernon Watkins, a friend and fellow author, this couple enjoyed a reasonably comfortable, simple and productive time."

In 1957, J. M. Dent & Sons of London published "Letters to Vernon Watkins" by Dylan Thomas - a true testament to their deep connection both as friends and literary collaborators. Later in life, Vernon's wife Gwen had a small book published (Gomer Press) titled "Portrait Of A Friend" which was reviewed as an "important, poignant, and challenging account of the friendship between Gwen's husband and Thomas."

Vernon's collections and paintings can be found in libraries all over the world and his paintings are still appreciated to this day. An EMC (Educational Media Collection) film was produced in 1967 of his Poems and are presented where he drew enormous inspiration from the scenery of the wild and romantic Gower Peninsula, the little England beyond Wales.

If having good friends is any measure of the man, then surely Vernon Watkins has made his mark.

Elegy on the Heroine of childhood

From school's spiked railings, glass topped, cat-walked walls.
From albums strewn, the streets,
strange funerals.
We run to join the queues's coiled peel tapering, storming the Bastille.
Tumbling, with collars torn and scattered ties,
to thumb screwed terror and the sea of eyes.