R S Thomas Centenary

The great R S Thomas is 13 years dead and 100 years alive today.  Here is the text of his poem, 'The Bright Field', with an illustration by the also great Dru Marland.

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.


R S Thomas