Rise

Athletes of these Games,
heads of all faculties,
you’re the stuff of legends.

In Arthur’s hall of heroes,
you’d sit with one
whose restless toes tapped

the boards: Sgilti Swiftfoot,
who strode not the trodden tracks
but the tips of reeds and branches,

none of which ever bent,
let alone broke, beneath his heel.
So it is your studied stare,

fixed as a falcon’s,
lifts you in a second above the boom
and bark of the crowd to a place

of heather, rarefied air,
and volcanic rock, where
aspirations form like summits.

Take a second now, before
you go on, look
how far you’ve come.

From our valley floor
your ascents thrill, but these
are punishing terrains,

gaps and halfway stations
dotted with cairns relentlessly
assembled, stone by stone,

by past heroes, scratched messages
of hope from old wayfinders
on paths to new peaks.

A lifetime of reconnaissance
has brought you here, where the heart
taps on the seesawing pressure gage

of the mind. The primordial names
of other-worldly warriors –
Heed son of Rigour,

Femur daughter of Force –
sing in you still, but these
are your own stories,

alive with alternate endings,
Arthur’s extras recast
as leads in a rising glare.

Masters of control,
steadfast, focused, and true,
catch our breath,
​
will us to new heights too.

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The poem was commissioned to support the atheletes of Team Cymru in the Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022. It was inspired in the first place by the Team Cymru's motto, 'The summit of our aspirations'. Click here to read the Welsh-language counterpart. More context here.

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Comisiynwyd y gerdd hon i gefnogi Tîm Cymru yng Ngemau'r Gymanwlad yn Birmingham 2022. Clicia fan hyn i ddarllen y gerdd Gymraeg gyfatebol.