Here is my poem about the experience:

Wales

Great

green slopes

flow down

as if cut

by glacial

ice many moons ago.

The trees a

potpourri of

types and hues.

Pine, Alders, Birch

and Willows,

abound in this place,

full of low valleys

and high mountains

green as if it

rained everyday.

A place that

surprises me,

beauty unsurpassed

history, Quakers,

hidden spiritual

meeting places,

persecution and

longing to worship freely.

My husband wanders

the cemetery

searching for

Roberts and Ellis names

on the headstones.

So intent on searching for

his background.

Lost in thought

of distant and long ago

relatives.

A black and white cat

crosses my path and

comes to say “HI”.

He acts as if he owns the

place.

It almost feels

as if the cat is a

reincarnation of

some past relative

coming to reach out to me.

I sit enjoying

the beautiful churchyard,

my husband so intent on

finding a connection.

I don’t think he knows,

the connection is there already.

I see it in you, your siblings,

your father and your grandparents.

Kindness, honesty, goodness,

a quietness that allows you

to listen intently to all around you.

They have been with you all

along, guiding you in the

Quaker way of life.

As we sat at the secret Quaker

meeting sight

at Tyddyn Y Garreg

below a huge rock altar

I could hear their longing

to be free.

To be what

they wanted,

worship as they wished.

They risked all by going

to this new promised land.

Shhh..quiet…

we are here

with you always.

Love to all, Julie and Chris