Ceredigion Starts

Where does Ceredigion start?
Is it where sunlight fills the heart,
Or where the sea and mountain meet,
Where innovation finds its feet?
Does it open like a book
Filled anew each time we look?
Or is it a cinema
Where the swirling starlings star?

Maybe the rush where rivers run
To meet the sea’s where it begun,
Or could it be the mountainside
Where skylarks soar and rivers rise?
Let’s search between the boats that dot
The harbour side with lobster pots,
Or ask the seagull, who must know
The saltmarsh’s secret ebb and flow.

Some say it begins in the turning tide,
In towns, say others, that’s where it hides,
And others say, in songs alone,
Poets, they swear, have always known.
Let’s get a round in down the pub,
And ask, where beer drinkers rub
Their shoulders with the scholars, whether
They can find it all together.

Our nation’s heartland holds the key,
This backed-up hard drive, hill to sea,
A meeting-stage in evergreen
Where powerful princes once convened,
Not in a castle’s windy lair,
But beneath cloisters tall and fair;
If there are answers to be found,
They’re in this shield-land’s middle-ground.
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Where does Ceredigion start?
It’s where sunlight fills the heart
And where the sea and mountain meet
And innovation finds its feet;
Now you’re the author of this book
That fills anew each time we look,
And what you’ve always known is true,
Ceredigion starts with you.

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A poem to support Aberystwyth's and Ceredigion's campaign to gain UNESCO City of Literature status. The lovely video below was produced by Scott Waby, who was also responsible for filming locations all over the county.

The original Welsh-language version of the poem is available here:​ Ddoi di gen-i? | Rhagfyr 2024.

For more information, see the campaign website: https://cityofliterature.wales/hafan.

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Cerdd i gefnogi ymgyrch Aberystwyth a Cheredigion gyfan i ennill statws Dinas Llên UNESCO. Cynhyrchwyd y fideo hyfryd uchod gan Scott Waby, ac ef hefyd a fu'n gyfrifol am ffilmio lleoliadau ar hyd a lled y sir.​ Dyma hi'r gerdd Gymraeg wreiddiol: Ddoi di gen-i? | Rhagfyr 2024.