Poem
Gillian Clarke
Pheidippedes’ Daughter
Pheidippedes’ Daughter
Pheidippedes’ Daughter
Long silver girl who slipped easyand early from the womb’s waters,
whose child-breath was a bird in a cage,
the inhaler in her fist her amulet,
grew tall, beautiful, caught her breath,
outran the hound, the hare, the myth,
the otter, salmon, swallow, hawk,
the river, the road, the track.
She texts again – this time Santiago.
She’s counting seven cities underfoot,
running the bloodlines of language, lineage,
for Ceridwen’s drop of gold, an ear of corn,
to leave the Battle of Marathon and run
through pain and joy with news to the gates of a city,
to arrive at the finishing line, and say,
‘Nenikékamen – We have won.’
© 2011, Gillian Clarke
Publisher: First published on PIW,
An uncollected poem, published here with the kind permission of the author.
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Gillian Clarke
(Wales, 1937)
Gillian Clarke was born in Cardiff in 1937 and lives in Ceredigion. Poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator from Welsh, she was Editor of The Anglo Welsh Review 1974-1984. National Poet of Wales 2008-2016, she was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010 and the Wilfred Owen Award in 2012. She has published ten collections of poetry for adults, written radio and ...
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Pheidippedes’ Daughter
Long silver girl who slipped easyand early from the womb’s waters,
whose child-breath was a bird in a cage,
the inhaler in her fist her amulet,
grew tall, beautiful, caught her breath,
outran the hound, the hare, the myth,
the otter, salmon, swallow, hawk,
the river, the road, the track.
She texts again – this time Santiago.
She’s counting seven cities underfoot,
running the bloodlines of language, lineage,
for Ceridwen’s drop of gold, an ear of corn,
to leave the Battle of Marathon and run
through pain and joy with news to the gates of a city,
to arrive at the finishing line, and say,
‘Nenikékamen – We have won.’
Pheidippedes’ Daughter
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