Hiraeth

by F. J. Kemp

In dreams I've often lingered there,
In sleep I find a way to tear
Myself from time, who holds me here,
Past time, who binds my soul to fear.

I find a way to travel home
Through planes that I have always known,
Within the flame, inside the heat,
Where thought and time and spirit meet.

To me there are a thousand doors
That lead to lives I've lived before.
One existence, many places,
A single mission, many faces.

I visit where it all began,
A wondrous, undiscovered land.
A floating island, on its own,
I lead them to their promised home.

Forced to roam the land and sea,
We found a place for purity.
Cast aside in jealous hate,
We swore to live and fight our fate.

In time we built a land of peace,
Where man could live as well as beast.
But those who'd been amused by me
Soon came to steal such piety.

In my absence they all came,
Stole my land and changed its name.
The centuries all came and passed
'Til I was born again, at last.

Looking into infant's eyes,
Another like me realised.
He was silent as I grew,
Patient, as the world was new.

He showed me I was not complete
And led me back inside the heat.
I met a version of myself,
She showed me what my futures held.

Destined now to be a king,
I sought my friend who'd seen these things.
He'd pledged allegiance to my throne
Before I pulled the sword from stone,

And with his help I learned to be
A king of strength and honesty.
I served my people, as before,
But no one man could halt those wars.

So, they sent another man,
To help me guard my silent land
He was the greatest of my men,
He soon became my greatest friend.

He would also follow me
To fight the wars that set us free.
I've known him in so many lives,
His faces change, but not his eyes.

I know him by his solemn stare,
I understand what's shielded there.
Bonded by our history,
We share a hidden memory.

There is another, yet to see
The lives that he has shared with me.
Buried deeply in his mind
Is power he is yet to find.

Completed by our final friend,
The trinity will form again
And as we've done through history,
We'll stoke the flame of liberty.

Now, within my final life
I understand the reasons why
I will never live again,
Except within the minds of men.

For when this life is spent and gone,
My destiny will not live on,
I will join the mighty mind
That is the spirit of mankind.

I will share all life with you,
Our unity the only truth.
I will learn to live again,
Hidden in the minds of men.

I've already met this mind
That is the only path through time.
I travel past its consciousness,
Stepping over continents.

I visit where it all began,
A flourishing and happy land.
Beneath the same familiar skies
That lift my people’s lullabies.

In dreams I've often lingered there,
The moon upon their raven hair,
Cymru, where my heart belongs,
Hiraeth, longing to be home.