Talking to Lord Newborough

I’d perch beside your gravestone years ago,
a boy who thought you old at forty-three.
I knew you loved this quiet place, like me.
We’d gaze towards Maentwrog far below,
kindred spirits, and I’d talk to you.
Sometimes I asked what it was like to die -
were you afraid? You never did reply,
and silence rested lightly on us two.

These days the past is nearer so I came
to our remembered refuge on the hill,
expecting change yet finding little there:
my village and the Moelwyns look the same,
Saint Michael’s Church commands the valley still - but you, old friend, are younger than you were.

Lt. William Charles Wynn, 1873-1916, 4th Baron Newborough,  whose grave overlooks the Vale of Ffestiniog in North Wales)