Hiraeth - By Hugh Yearwood

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Hugh Yearwood, Bumbury Ameriandian Settlement, Mabaruma, Guyana Detail

“I am, more importantly however, a permanent resident of the human race and no matter where I go, I’d like to think that I will always belong.” Says Tricia Yearwood in her article, "What It Means To Be A Guyanese Emigrant"

Wise words to end this honest and, at times, soul tearing piece on how leaving the old country is only really accomplished physically. I know this ache intimately that she writes about “…my eyes began to ache with the same disconnect …”. I became very familiar with this constant of ‘ache’ and ‘disconnect’ during the 31 years that have passed since I left Guyana. Then one day this spring, a Facebook friend and ex- British Guianaian introduced her circle of Diaspora friends to a Welsh word that finally allowed me to breath in and out more freely. Hiraeth.

Wikipedia says it has no direct English translation and that the University of Wales, Lampeter attempts to define it as tinged with or over the lost or departed. Describing hiraeth as a mix of longing, yearning, , wistfulness, or an earnest for the Wales of the past.

I connect better with The Urban Dictionary that says: Hiraeth is a longing for one's homeland, but it's not mere homesickness. It's an expression of the bond one feels with one's home country when one is away from it. “As soon as I step over the border into Wales my hiraeth evaporates. I am home.”

Cricket forever. Street cricket, Georgetown, Guyana.Photo credit unknown from the internet

This poem by Tim Davis makes an attempt at defining it.

Hiraeth (©Tim Davis, 2007)

Hiraeth is a Cymraeg (Welsh) word which doesn't translate well into English. It is a deep longing for home. This poem makes an attempt at defining it. It is pronounced with two syllables. The first is like the English here except that the r is stronger. The second syllable is like how a mathematician would pronounce i-th as in the ith row of a matrix. You could also say eye-th.

With a last name of Davis, it should be no that my Davis ancestor was born in Wales in the early 1600's. I found this out several years after writing this poem. The westward theme is in the poem because going home to Cymru (Wales) means traveling west (from, say, England).

Hiraeth beckons with wordless call, Hear, my soul, with heart enthrall'd. Hiraeth whispers while earth I roam; Here I wait the call "come home."

Like seagull cry, like sea borne wind, That speak with words beyond my ken, A longing deep with words unsaid, Calls a wanderer home instead.

I heed your call, Hiraeth, I come On westward path to hearth and home. My path leads on to western shore, My heart tells me there is yet more.

Within my ears the sea air sighs; The sunset glow, it fills my eyes. I stand at edge of sea and earth, My bare feet washed in gentle surf.

Hiraeth's longing to call me on, Here, on shore, in setting sun. Hiraeth calls past sunset fire,

Hugh Yearwood, 2011,The Mango Tree. Bumbury Ameriandian Settlement, Mabaruma, Guyana

Autor: Hugh Yearwood o 03:08 Brak komentarzy: