The Church of St Gwinear – a Poem by David Oates

The Church of St Gwinear

Tucked away in a fold of the land just inland from the north coast, lies a church that bears a dedication to one of those wild Irish rovers who supposedly brought Christianity to Cornwall.  To stand there, today, is to be part of that ancient past.

Through gentle rain and lowering sky

Of evening,

Provoked by summer heat,

I slip through lych-gate,

Dark in shadow,

That bears upon its walls

The sadness of lost youth –

A sadness hanging still,

From times long gone,

That down the years

Endures.

But from the gate the path brings peace –

A path cut deep by countless feet,

Marked by leaning cross

With figure cut of old,

That long ago showed

Passage through the fields

For those who came in faith

To share both joy and grief

A calm and healing power is here

That lifts the soul and makes it soar.

Startled by my footfall,

A flash of iridescent wing

Sweeps from lichened porch

And lancing skywards slips into the dusk.

I lean through darkened door

And see, in nature’s symmetry,

Clay-cupped ‘neath age-stained beam,

New life, full-fledged

But yet not flown,

Tucked tight to roof

In perfect stillness.

Smell of leaves and wet grass

And in the air,

A dampness tangible,

That seeps through clothing,

Hangs on hair,

And brings to feet in summer shoes,

Exquisite coolness.

But over all the stillness,

Time-stopping in its depth,

A mystery evolves and grows,

In swelling murmur.

Name on name is heard,

That fills the air

And spills from from slate

Worn smooth by nature’s gentle rub.

I stand amidst this sea of stones

And know that here beneath my feet

My people lie,

The ones I never knew,

So far away in time,

But in me now –

Their blood is mine,

Still coursing strong.

The continuity of time,

Unbroken still.

David Oates is a Cornish bard who has published a history of Troon, entitled “Echoes of an Age”, a guide to Godrevy and Gwithian, “Walk the hidden ways” and a slim volume of his own verse, “Poems from the far west”. His unpublished work includes a reflection on a Cornish childhood, “What time do they close the gates, Mister?” and a fictionalised story for young people based on the extant life of St Gwinear, with the working title, “The son of a king”. David is working on another guide in the “Walk the hidden ways” series, entitled “Hard Rock country”.

David is a tenor singer with the well-known group, Proper Job based in mid- Cornwall and has collaborated with Portreath musician, Alice Allsworth, to write the lyrics for a number of songs about Cornwall and the Cornish.