R S Thomas (poet)
LightNews LightNews
banner
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
R S Thomas (poet)
@rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
820 followers 4 following 1.2K posts
famous Welsh poet in English language 1913-2000
“…catching this / one truth by surprise / that there is everything to look forward to…”
#RSThomas #poetry #barddoniaeth
📍 yng Nghymru, wrth gwrs
facebook.com/groups/RSThomas/
Not a Machine, nor Bot nor AI
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
R S Thomas (poet) @rsthomaspoet.bsky.social · Oct 26
Diolch yn fawr iawn i Martin Roberts @ffoto.bsky.social am y llun hyfryd ac y gwên! Many thanks for this photo, especially the smile!
Black and white photo of head of smiling elderly man
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Retirement’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#Ymddeoliad
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - Retirement. I have crawled out at last far as I dare on to a bough of country that is suspended between sky and sea. From what was I escaping There is a rare peace here, though the aeroplanes buzz me, reminders of that abyss, deeper than sea or sky, civilisation could fall into. Strangers advance, inching their way out, so that the branch bends further away from the scent of the cloud blossom. Must I console myself with reflections? There are times even the mirror is misted as by one breathing over my shoulder. Clinging to my position, witnessing the seasonal migrations, I must try to content myself with the perception that love and truth have no wings, but are resident like me here, practising their sub-song quietly in the face of the bitterest of winters.
October 7, 2026 at 7:29 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
@j-lbrbsblogs.bsky.social
Diolch, thank you for reposting. If you like #RSThomas then you might be interested in following this Bluesky account @RSThomaspoet.bsky.social
also facebook.com/groups/RSThomas/
- and there’s a Society you can join… rsthomaspoetry.co.uk/rs-thomas-me-eldridge-society/
Facebook
facebook.com
October 7, 2026 at 7:37 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Retirement’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#Ymddeoliad
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - Retirement. I have crawled out at last far as I dare on to a bough of country that is suspended between sky and sea. From what was I escaping There is a rare peace here, though the aeroplanes buzz me, reminders of that abyss, deeper than sea or sky, civilisation could fall into. Strangers advance, inching their way out, so that the branch bends further away from the scent of the cloud blossom. Must I console myself with reflections? There are times even the mirror is misted as by one breathing over my shoulder. Clinging to my position, witnessing the seasonal migrations, I must try to content myself with the perception that love and truth have no wings, but are resident like me here, practising their sub-song quietly in the face of the bitterest of winters.
October 7, 2026 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Kneeling’ - #RSThomas
(Not That He Brought Flowers - Rupert Hart-Davis 1968)
October 6, 2026 at 7:24 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Kneeling’ - #RSThomas
(Not That He Brought Flowers - Rupert Hart-Davis 1968)
October 6, 2026 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Borders’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#Gororau
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - Borders Somewhere beyond time's curve civilisation lifted its glass rim. There was a pretence of light for nations to walk by through the dark wood, where history wintered. Following I came to the foretold frontier where with a machine's instinct the guns' nostrils flared at the blooms held out to them by the flower people.
October 4, 2026 at 7:23 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Borders’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#Gororau
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - Borders Somewhere beyond time's curve civilisation lifted its glass rim. There was a pretence of light for nations to walk by through the dark wood, where history wintered. Following I came to the foretold frontier where with a machine's instinct the guns' nostrils flared at the blooms held out to them by the flower people.
October 4, 2026 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Prayer’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan 1975)
fringequest.bsky.social FRINGE QUEST @fringequest.bsky.social · 5d
by R.S. Thomas (1913-2000, Wales)
October 2, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
A preliminary announcement of the Cynefin Field Guide, five years in the making and available this month - register via the link. thecynefin.co/five-years-i...
Five years in the field - The Cynefin Co
To live in the wilderness is the beginning of creation R. S. Thomas, in the spirit of his desert theology The Cynefin Field Guide has been in the making
thecynefin.co
October 2, 2026 at 12:23 PM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Prayer’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan 1975)
fringequest.bsky.social FRINGE QUEST @fringequest.bsky.social · 5d
by R.S. Thomas (1913-2000, Wales)
October 2, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
gwasgprifcymru.bsky.social
Mae'n Ddiwrnod Cenedlaethol Barddoniaeth!

Dysgwch am un o feirdd mwyaf Cymru gyda'r gyfrol 'R. S. Thomas, Desperado: Cultural Warrior of Wales' gan M. Wynn Thomas a gyhoeddwyd gennym fis diwethaf.

📚️ www.gwasgprifysgolcymru.org/book/r-s-tho...
October 1, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Genealogy’ - #RSThomas
(Tares, Rupert Hart-Davis 1961)
stuhatton.bsky.social Stu Hatton @stuhatton.bsky.social · 8d
Still can’t get over this R S Thomas poem. (Don’t think I ever will!)

#poetry #poetrysky #rsthomas #genealogy #poem
September 30, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
uniwalespress.bsky.social
Happy National #Poetry Day!

Learn more about one of Wales's most revered poets in 'R. S. Thomas, Desperado: Cultural Warrior of Wales' by M. Wynn Thomas.

📚️ www.uwp.co.uk/book/r-s-tho...

#NationalPoetryDay
‘M. Wynn Thomas, with his usual wry wit and poetic perception, walks the path around the distant and rugged terrain of R. S. Thomas. This book is like light through a prism, the whole spectrum of the poet’s hints, ambiguities and shards on full view, and admired with such a passionate and joyful questioning. No one reads between R.S.’s lines with such clarity, and to read this book is a teasing delight to both the parched soul and roving mind.’ The Very Revd Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark
October 1, 2026 at 2:00 PM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Genealogy’ - #RSThomas
(Tares, Rupert Hart-Davis 1961)
stuhatton.bsky.social Stu Hatton @stuhatton.bsky.social · 8d
Still can’t get over this R S Thomas poem. (Don’t think I ever will!)

#poetry #poetrysky #rsthomas #genealogy #poem
September 30, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
ariesonneveld.bsky.social
Een herfstdag, nieuwe vertaling van A Day In Autumn van de Welshe dichter R.S. Thomas. thehiddenlaw.com/2026/09/30/e...
Een herfstdag – R.S. Thomas
Een herfstdag, nieuwe vertaling van A Day In Autumn van de Welshe dichter R.S. Thomas.
thehiddenlaw.com
September 30, 2026 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Michaelmas Day 29th September.
‘A Day in Autumn’ - #RSThomas
(Poetry for Supper, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958)
michaelcymro.bsky.social Michael Evans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mihangel ap Ifans @michaelcymro.bsky.social · 9d
Michaelmas Day 29th September.
Not found mention of Michaelmas or St Michael in his poems, but RS Thomas studied theology at St Michael’s College Llandaff, was later vicar of St Michael’s Manafon, then St Michael’s Eglwysfach. Also he died just 4 days before Michaelmas.
‘A Day in Autumn’ - #RSThomas
Text of poem - A Day in Autumn. It will not always be like this, The air windless, a few last Leaves adding their decoration To the trees' shoulders, braiding the cuffs Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening In the lawn's mirror. Having looked up From the day's chores, pause a minute, Let the mind take its photograph Of the bright scene, something to wear Against the heart in the long cold. - RS Thomas
September 29, 2026 at 2:11 PM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Michaelmas Day 29th September.
‘A Day in Autumn’ - #RSThomas
(Poetry for Supper, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958)
michaelcymro.bsky.social Michael Evans 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Mihangel ap Ifans @michaelcymro.bsky.social · 9d
Michaelmas Day 29th September.
Not found mention of Michaelmas or St Michael in his poems, but RS Thomas studied theology at St Michael’s College Llandaff, was later vicar of St Michael’s Manafon, then St Michael’s Eglwysfach. Also he died just 4 days before Michaelmas.
‘A Day in Autumn’ - #RSThomas
Text of poem - A Day in Autumn. It will not always be like this, The air windless, a few last Leaves adding their decoration To the trees' shoulders, braiding the cuffs Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening In the lawn's mirror. Having looked up From the day's chores, pause a minute, Let the mind take its photograph Of the bright scene, something to wear Against the heart in the long cold. - RS Thomas
September 29, 2026 at 2:11 PM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Sea-Watching’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan 1975)
bobborsley.bsky.social "Sources close to" Bob Borsley @bobborsley.bsky.social · 10d
“There were days,
so beautiful the emptiness
it might have filled,
its absence
was as its presence”

(R.S. Thomas)
September 28, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Window’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#yFfenestr
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - The Window. Say he is any man anywhere set before the shop window of life, full of comestibles and jewels; to put out his hand is to come up against glass; to break it is to injure himself. Shall he turn poet and acquire them in the imagination, gospeller and extol himself for his abstention from them? What if he is not called? I would put the manufacturers there. Let them see the eyes staring in, be splashed with the blood of the shop-breakers; let them live on the poet's diet, on the pocket-money of the priest. I see the blinds going down in Europe, over the whole world: the rich with everything to sell, the poor with nothing to buy it with.
September 27, 2026 at 6:53 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Window’ - #RSThomas
(Experimenting with an Amen, Macmillan 1986)
#yFfenestr
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem - The Window. Say he is any man anywhere set before the shop window of life, full of comestibles and jewels; to put out his hand is to come up against glass; to break it is to injure himself. Shall he turn poet and acquire them in the imagination, gospeller and extol himself for his abstention from them? What if he is not called? I would put the manufacturers there. Let them see the eyes staring in, be splashed with the blood of the shop-breakers; let them live on the poet's diet, on the pocket-money of the priest. I see the blinds going down in Europe, over the whole world: the rich with everything to sell, the poor with nothing to buy it with.
September 27, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
wjpme.bsky.social
@imcmillan.bsky.social We are at the RS Thomas festival in Eglwysfach, Machynlleth & yesterday went on a lovely walk - one of RS’s - overlooking the beautiful Dyfi estuary. Owen Sheers then gave a wonderful talk on ‘beirdd gwlad’ [folk poets]. One for the Verb maybe? cynefinmusic.wales/en/home-page
Home Page - Cynefin
cynefinmusic.wales
September 26, 2026 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Welsh poet RS Thomas died #OnThisDay in 2000. Here's a tribute by Rowan Williams (patron of the RS Thomas & ME Eldridge Society)…
Text of poem - Deathship. (In memory of R. S. Thomas) The last years, words from a window smoothing the sea, the iron back and forth to probe the fugitive wrinkles carving a path down to the lost gate. What hid in the pale clefts till now feels for the light, a soft uncertain lingering as if through stone, through furrows of flint. The tides pressed neat as for an evening out: time to drag down a black boat from the shed, off through the gate, to balance on the slow sea at dark, ready to sail. The smoke will rise, the cloudy pillar wavering across the sky's long page At dawn, somewhere westward, the boat flares in a blaze of crying birds. - Rowan Williams A black-and-white close-up portrait of an elderly RS Thomas with tousled white hair and a deeply lined face, wearing a dark coat. He is looking slightly off-camera with a happy expression.
September 25, 2026 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Bu farw'r bardd Cymreig #RSThomas #ArYDyddHwn 2000. Dyma deyrnged gan Rowan Williams (noddwr Cymdeithas RS Thomas & ME Eldridge)…
Text of poem - Deathship. (In memory of R. S. Thomas) The last years, words from a window smoothing the sea, the iron back and forth to probe the fugitive wrinkles carving a path down to the lost gate. What hid in the pale clefts till now feels for the light, a soft uncertain lingering as if through stone, through furrows of flint. The tides pressed neat as for an evening out: time to drag down a black boat from the shed, off through the gate, to balance on the slow sea at dark, ready to sail. The smoke will rise, the cloudy pillar wavering across the sky's long page At dawn, somewhere westward, the boat flares in a blaze of crying birds. - Rowan Williams A black-and-white close-up portrait of an elderly RS Thomas with tousled white hair and a deeply lined face, wearing a dark coat. He is looking slightly off-camera with a happy expression.
September 25, 2026 at 7:26 AM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Kneeling’ - #RSThomas
(Not That He Brought Flowers - Rupert Hart-Davis 1968)
tommurphe.bsky.social Tom Murphy @tommurphe.bsky.social · 13d
Prompt me, God;
But not yet. When I speak,
Though it be you who speak
Through me, something is lost.
The meaning is in the waiting.

- from "Kneeling" by R.S. Thomas, (1913-2000)
A layer of mist partially covering a green field, framed by trees beginning to lose their leaves, under a bright sky of blue and clouds.
September 25, 2026 at 4:20 PM
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
@yrieithydd.bsky.social

Diolch, thank you for reposting. If you like #RSThomas then you might be interested in following this Bluesky account @RSThomaspoet.bsky.social
also facebook.com/groups/RSThomas/
- and there’s a Society you can join… rsthomaspoetry.co.uk/rs-thomas-me-eldridge-society/
Facebook
facebook.com
September 25, 2026 at 4:18 PM