Poem – My Lovely Valley

My Lovely Valley

By Stephen Davies

How lovely the valley is.
In winter cold and wet.
In summer sunny and hot.
The valley I was brought up in.
Went to school and later worked in.
The valley my parents were brought up in. Honest
And good.
The valley I met my sweetheart in.
My sweetheart for ever and ever.
How lovely my valley is.
To sit on the mountain side. And take its beauty.
Walk hand in hand with my sweetheart for all our days.
And at the end. Be laid to rest in the valley.
My lovely valley.

About this poem

This is an affecting and affectionate ode to Cwmtillery, once its own village centred from the mid-nineteenth century on a sizable mining operation but now a northern suburb of Abertillery. The poem intertwines the seasonal rhythms of the area with the beats of the author Stephen’s own life. Written in free verse, without a unform metre or rhyming scheme, the piece flows easily from line to line. Yet it is leant cohesion by the repetition of certain words at the end of lines, such as ‘is’, in’ and ‘valley’. Whilst most of the poem is retrospective, the last two lines look to the future in a manner both melancholy and glad.

This page is part of the Blaenau Gwent REACH online exhibition.

Film and audio | Creative writing | Visual art

Digital stories | The history of Blaenau Gwent | About this project