Er Cof

In memory of Frances Ann Davies who first inspired this idea in me and who shared her wild welsh poppy seeds.

Have you seen the seed selection
packets with pictures of prize
winning marrows and flowers
in bloom like a thousand prisoners
those seeds hang on death rows
awaiting release sow by date
stamped on each packet a life
sentence without parole starving
inside foil for freshness the irony
a seed is fresh when born.
I too have held them prisoner,
captive since last summer in a
jar among the spices and packets
of unknown contents on a shelf.
Poppy seeds with a potential to
grow into golden patches of sunlight
pushing up anywhere they might fall.

I got them from Anne’s farm garden who said these are welsh poppies – so it must be true.  I scattered them and forgot for a time and a season or two later they came pushing their way through a crack in concrete between shrubs under the log pile where the sun’s warmth barely registers.  Hardy.  Reliable.  Resilient.  and so I’m told, Welsh.  With their bright yellow and orange heads these are peacemaker poppies – not for sale but for sowing.  Wild and free they make no political statement just a flower grown like their cousins were once in the fields after battle was done.  As they come up I remember to be as resilient as them for they offer seeds of hope, joy and peace in dark places.  A symbol of humility and faith.  I’ll sow these seeds again to feed that joy as I watch them grow against all the odds.  I know that as each one flowers more seeds will be born.  Flower by flower we can take away that which drives our fears and begin to be lead towards a path of peace.  So I offer you a packet of seeds for remembrance to feed the hope that germination might bring.

Offered as a reflection on ‘Remembrance’ to the Bangor Clergy Cadfan group of Ministry Area Leaders.