0:00:00 > 0:00:00- 888
0:00:00 > 0:00:02- 888- - 888
0:00:07 > 0:00:09- 888
0:00:14 > 0:00:16- 888
0:00:21 > 0:00:23- 888
0:00:24 > 0:00:30- # Above the snow, the sky is red
0:00:31 > 0:00:37- # All of Swansea is ablaze
0:00:38 > 0:00:43- # I walk home in the night #
0:00:44 > 0:00:47- I felt now that we were living...
0:00:47 > 0:00:49- ..by killing and devouring.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54- It was endemic within us, - and a poison to us all.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56- It was an overwhelming feeling.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58- I suffered from it...
0:00:58 > 0:01:01- ..for many, many months.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06- # Children of God #
0:01:16 > 0:01:18- It's hard to put - your finger on it...
0:01:18 > 0:01:21- ..but Waldo's words - somehow draw us in.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26- He seems familiar to us - because he's so earnest.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30- You're right, and his poems - reveal his need for peace.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32- Not just peace for himself...
0:01:33 > 0:01:35- ..but peace for the whole world.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38- He believes that people - are inherently good.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41- We excel when we help each other.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44- Ultimately, he recognizes it.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48- This community of kindness - is what will prevail.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52- The day will come - when the small will stand tall.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09- For me, one of his haunting lines - is his reply to this question.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12- What is it to live?
0:02:12 > 0:02:16- He states that it is "to possess - a great hall within a cell."
0:02:17 > 0:02:20- I remember hearing the story - behind those words.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26- Waldo was cycling - around Pembrokeshire, as usual.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30- He came upon a man - cutting grass outside a chapel.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33- He dismounted - and went over to speak to him.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38- He said to him, - "What a little chapel you have."
0:02:38 > 0:02:40- Clearly, the man took umbrage.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45- "It may be small from the outside, - but it's big inside!"
0:02:45 > 0:02:47- Waldo understood.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53- To possess - a great hall within a cell.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08- I still remember Waldo - from the night I first met him.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11- I was coming home from school, - after playing rugby.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15- I was on the bus when a man boarded - and sat by me.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18- I knew who he was, - having seen photos of him.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23- I was sitting, lost for words, - next to this very important man.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28- I wanted to say something - intelligent and sophisticated.
0:03:28 > 0:03:34- A bubble car, made of glass, - one of those round cars, passed us.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38- I said, "Waldo, what's your view - of these bubble cars?"
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- No answer. Silence for two minutes.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43- After two minutes, he said...
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- .."a bubble - for all the world's people".
0:03:49 > 0:03:53- Another anecdote concerns - the writing of the poem Cofio.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59- He was staying with his friend - Willie Jenkins here at Hoplass farm.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06- The sun was close to setting - in the west.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10- We were cutting turnips - when I started it.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13- He wrote the first verse and then...
0:04:14 > 0:04:18- We went in for supper, - and the rest came very quickly.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32- Waldo himself - didn't rate Cofio highly...
0:04:32 > 0:04:36- ..but it has won a place - in the nation's consciousness.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38- It's so enchanting. It sings.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43- And yet, a tinge of terror - pervades some of the lines.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48- Think of his reference - to "little words of lost languages".
0:04:50 > 0:04:55- No-one rolls them - on their tongues any more.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02- As for the ending, Waldo's question - is hopefully rhetorical.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06- He believes in his heart - that someone, somewhere...
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- ..the perpetual DNA maybe, - does remember everything.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27- One fleeting minute - before the sun goes down
0:05:27 > 0:05:31- One gentle minute - before night comes on to reign.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- To remember the unremembered things
0:05:34 > 0:05:37- Lost now in the dust - of time gone by.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42- Like the foam - that breaks on lonely beaches
0:05:42 > 0:05:46- Like the song of the wind - where no one hears.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- I know they're vainly calling to us
0:05:50 > 0:05:53- Those unremembered things - of humankind.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08- The skill and achievements - of those early people
0:06:08 > 0:06:11- In small abodes and in great halls
0:06:12 > 0:06:16- The artful tales lost over centuries
0:06:17 > 0:06:21- The gods not known to any now.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29- And the little words - of lost languages
0:06:30 > 0:06:32- Happy on the lips of men were they
0:06:33 > 0:06:36- And sweet on the ear - in children's chatter
0:06:37 > 0:06:40- But no-one rolls them - on their tongues by now.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51- Oh, untold generations of the world
0:06:52 > 0:06:55- With their dreams divine - and fragile divinity.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59- Is silence all that remains - for those hearts
0:07:00 > 0:07:03- That once rejoiced and knew despair?
0:07:08 > 0:07:11- Often, as dusk draws in - and I'm alone
0:07:12 > 0:07:16- A yearning comes - to know you every one
0:07:17 > 0:07:20- Is there one left - whose heart and mind recalls
0:07:23 > 0:07:29- Those old forgotten things - of humankind?
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- It's so strange - to think of him cutting turnips...
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- ..when Cofio just came to him.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49- He often speaks - of poems coming to him.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- Energy awakens the imagination.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56- As for lines which puzzle - the listener, he says this.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00- He has put switches in the poems - to illuminate the meaning.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03- Those seeking clarity - need only touch one of them.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07- Through your power, - let me be for your sake, a poet.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09- There are clever people.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12- There are intelligent people.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15- There are poets - who are masters with words.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- It all flows very beautifully.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- And yet the greatness - of someone pure in heart...
0:08:22 > 0:08:25- ..is head and shoulders - above their greatness.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30- Blessed are the pure in heart, - for they shall see God.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33- Waldo was such a person.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38- His purity of heart - gave him a special vision of life.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- There's more than just poetry here.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45- When the pure of heart speak, - they speak the truth.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48- It's a truth - that's worth listening to.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03- One of Waldo's most famous poems - is Mewn Dau Gae.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08- In it, he describes an extraordinary - vision he had as a young boy.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12- The experience stayed with him - throughout his life.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20- Imagine the 14-year-old Waldo - standing between these two fields.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27- He realizes that the people - of the world are all related.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32- More so, the fact that we're - all brothers and sisters...
0:09:32 > 0:09:34- ..is our very purpose.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36- But who decides that purpose?
0:09:37 > 0:09:39- That's what he's questioning.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- "Who? Who was the marksman? - The sudden expositor?"
0:09:43 > 0:09:47- Yes, but there was no-one else - in the field when he had his vision.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- It must have been - an extraordinary medium...
0:09:51 > 0:09:53- .."rolling the sea of light"...
0:09:54 > 0:09:58- ..and making him visualize - these fields full of people.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30- Waldo's father - was a primary school headmaster.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35- He was born in the schoolhouse - at Prendergast, Haverfordwest.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39- As a seven-year-old, - the monoglot English speaker...
0:10:39 > 0:10:42- ..moved to the heart - of the Preseli...
0:10:42 > 0:10:46- ..to Mynachlog-ddu, - where everyone spoke Welsh.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50- He said that he had - a lifelong struggle with mutations.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53- It's a strange thing.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55- I was quite slow...
0:10:55 > 0:10:58- ..in writing Welsh prose.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01- The mutations bothered me.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04- I had that uncertainty with prose.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- They didn't when I wrote poetry.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- Rhos Aeron, Llandissilio - was an important place for Waldo.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29- This is where - his great grandparents lived.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33- I have very fond memories - of visiting Auntie Gladys.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37- Gladys Llewellyn was headmistress - of Clunderwen primary school.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41- Rhos Aeron was her home, - and I'd stay there in the week.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44- I'd go home at weekends.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47- I got to know Waldo, - who often called by.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53- The house overlooks - Weun Parc y Blawd and Parc y Blawd.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56- They feature in the poem - Mewn Dau Gae.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01- Young Linda Llewellyn - came to this house on holiday.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03- She was from the Rhondda.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07- In 1941, she became Waldo's wife.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11- The couple set up home - in Botwnnog on the Lleyn Peninsula.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14- Waldo was a schoolmaster there.
0:12:20 > 0:12:26- She was my nest, my heaven, - my refuge in my two homes.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29- My muse, for a while, she made...
0:12:30 > 0:12:34- ..a little bird - above earthbound thorns.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50- Within two years of their marriage, - Linda died.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53- Her loss was a body blow for Waldo.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02- It wasn't the first time - that he had lost a loved one.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06- Morfydd, his sister, died - when she was only 12 years old.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15- Waldo had no children of his own, - but he was a friend to the young.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20- His style of teaching - was most unconventional.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24- Inventive and imaginative, - he could enter a child's world.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28- He had the ability to do that. - He often played games.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31- Sometimes, he brought a wigwam - into the class.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35- To enter the wigwam, - children had to speak Welsh.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40- He was a brilliant teacher, - quite brilliant in that sense.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42- He was kind and loving.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47- What more can you give a child? - Waldo certainly gave them his love.
0:13:53 > 0:13:53- .
0:13:59 > 0:13:59- 888
0:13:59 > 0:14:01- 888- - 888
0:14:17 > 0:14:21- Following the death - of his wife Linda in 1943...
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- ..Waldo moved to England.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27- It's as if he wished to escape.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30- It was all so painful for him.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- He worked on farms in Wiltshire.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41- He visited the museum at Avebury.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45- It's a prehistoric site - near Marlborough.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50- Waldo was shaken on seeing - a young child's skeletal remains.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54- This brought back memories - of his sister Morfydd.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58- From this experience - sprang the poem Geneth Ifanc.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02- Yes, it's a sad poem, - but it's also full of hope.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05- Waldo sees that our world today...
0:15:05 > 0:15:10- ..is a richer place - because of Avebury's young girl...
0:15:10 > 0:15:15- ..and of children through the ages, - including his sister Morfydd.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19- "A bluer blue because of her."
0:15:29 > 0:15:32- The stone skeleton was a young girl.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35- Each time anew she holds me.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- A century for each year of my age
0:15:40 > 0:15:42- I travel back to reach her world.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51- Her people dwelt in peace
0:15:51 > 0:15:54- Earning the earth's help - with their skill.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59- Pondering the secrets - of birth and marriage and death
0:16:00 > 0:16:03- Keeping the bonds - of the family of man.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09- They placed her early - in her eternal crouch.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12- Twelve times she welcomed in May
0:16:12 > 0:16:14- Then the dark reaper caught her
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- Her voice was no more - in the mountain.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25- The wide, wide sky was deeper there
0:16:26 > 0:16:29- A bluer blue because of her.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35- More certain - the unseen house and eternal
0:16:36 > 0:16:39- Because of her on these heights.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59- Although Avebury is in England, - the link with Wales is important.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03- The same people lived here - as in Stonehenge and the Preseli.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06- They were a peaceful people.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11- In Waldo's words, they earned - "the earth's help with their skill."
0:17:12 > 0:17:16- These people treated the land - with respect, not greed.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19- The same idea is found - in the poem Preseli.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24- He talks of parents who "reached - and gave the children the sun."
0:17:25 > 0:17:29- They passed on the best things - in life to the next generation.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38- From their toil, they reached - and gave the children the sun.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45- Life's journey is painful.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50- Our feet are blistered - from walking over life's embers.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56- That is Waldo's appeal - - he writes about suffering...
0:17:56 > 0:17:59- ..and about overcoming - that suffering.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03- That's why his appeal is so great.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06- "The day will come - when the small will stand tall."
0:18:07 > 0:18:09- The downtrodden will rise.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19- In his poem - Daw'r Wennol Yn Ol I'w Nyth...
0:18:20 > 0:18:23- ..these are Waldo's words.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28- "To their school, war came - To tear up the field of Crug y Mel."
0:18:28 > 0:18:33- This is his subject - - Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37- The soldiers - have been here since the 1930s.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42- The army had a plan - for a training base in the Preseli.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46- But the locals rallied, - in Waldo's words...
0:18:47 > 0:18:50- .."To keep the wall - from the monster...
0:18:50 > 0:18:52- .."To keep the well free of dirt."
0:19:02 > 0:19:04- Words alone weren't enough for him.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08- Waldo was a Quaker - and a committed pacifist.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11- He protested - against the Korean War.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13- He refused to pay income tax.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19- In 1960 and 1961, - because of that, he went to prison.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26- # Above the snow, the sky is red #
0:19:26 > 0:19:30- It was shame I felt - - guilt, personal guilt.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34- It depressed me considerably.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37- At times, I almost - couldn't go out in the street.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40- I decided to make this stand.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44- # My father and mother - are on my mind #
0:19:44 > 0:19:47- I felt that poems were no good.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51- Something had to be done. - I felt powerless.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57- # Peacemakers, peacemakers
0:19:57 > 0:20:02- # Children of God #
0:20:03 > 0:20:07- He enjoyed prison, - and the comradeship...
0:20:07 > 0:20:09- ..among those who were in prison.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14- He was pleased - to have been given a gardening job.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18- He was outside, - working in the gardens.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22- All I remember about him in jail - was this one story.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- Hairy Tom, a mechanic, - was in jail with Waldo.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32- They were sewing mailbags.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36- A bell would ring at lunchtime.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40- Waldo and Tom were always together.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46- When the bell rang, Tom would say - "Hey, boy, it's playtime."
0:20:46 > 0:20:48- Memories of the school bell.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57- If Cofio begins - with "one fleeting minute"...
0:20:58 > 0:21:03- ..another poem deals - with a smaller unit, the moment.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08- It's about the instant - when everything stands still.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11- It's when we, just sometimes...
0:21:11 > 0:21:14- ..have the privilege - of seeing unusual things...
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- ..and hearing unusual things.
0:21:18 > 0:21:25- Once again, he sets our brief time - on earth in the context of eternity.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- There is no talk of the moment - in any scholar's book
0:21:42 > 0:21:46- The river's flow ceases - and the rock shouts
0:21:46 > 0:21:50- That it's a witness - to things not seen by eye
0:21:50 > 0:21:52- Nor heard by ear.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57- A breeze between breezes
0:21:58 > 0:22:00- Sun from beyond the sun
0:22:03 > 0:22:06- The wonder of our true haunts
0:22:06 > 0:22:08- Not twisted, nor eroded
0:22:09 > 0:22:11- Filling the world.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- We know since the Moment comes
0:22:19 > 0:22:21- That we are born for the Hour.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29- He's an all-time great.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- The only pity - is that he didn't live longer.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36- He could have told us more.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- He could have written more too.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43- But such is life.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47- A man in the pit of blood.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51- He was a man - with a heart full of compassion...
0:22:51 > 0:22:54- ..for the suffering millions.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57- He was a man who knew pain and pity.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00- He wrote these victorious songs.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03- There's nothing superficial here.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05- They come from the heart.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10- Because it's from the heart, - it arouses a response within us.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13- That's why Waldo - is Wales's favourite poet.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15- He's Wales's greatest poet.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38- Don't you think that this stone - in this tranquil place...
0:23:38 > 0:23:40- ..is a fitting memorial for Waldo?
0:23:40 > 0:23:45- Yes, and I hope that all of us - who travel along that road...
0:23:45 > 0:23:47- ..take time to stop and look around.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50- We should appreciate what we have.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54- In this area, - Waldo had a close-knit community.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- He saw a pattern of recognition.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00- This sustained him - in his dark periods.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05- This type of recognition - would not permit war between men.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16- The essence of this fraternal - feeling in a society...
0:24:16 > 0:24:20- ..is the testament - that there is something within us...
0:24:20 > 0:24:23- ..which is outside of this world.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28- That's why we exist. - It's part of our purpose.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30- Heaven.
0:24:31 > 0:24:39- One day, brotherhood - will unite the families of Earth.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01- S4C Subtitles by Adnod Cyf.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02- .