In English and Welsh by Grahame Davies
The road begins beyond the door:
the door that opens every day.
And every day becomes the door
for those who follow in the way.
Leave all you have behind you.
Your past, your pain,
your knowledge and your name.
Or bring it all.
Your freedom will still find you.
Winter or spring, the welcome is the same.
What more could creation say?
The earth and sky,
the darkness and the day.
The empty path.
What more could wisdom do
Than open up the door and wait for you.?
O flaen y drws mae pen y ffordd:
y ffordd sy’n gwahodd gyda’r wawr.
A ffordd agored yw pob drws,
a drws agored yw pob awr.
Gad dy eiddo oll ar ôl:
dy hanes, dy boen,
dy enw, dy ddysg.
Neu tyrd â’r cyfan oll.
Bydd rhyddid yn dy ganfod o hyd.
Yr un fydd y croeso, hydref neu haf.
Oes angen i’r cread ddweud mwy?
Awyr a daear,
dydd a nos,
y llwybr gwag.
Beth mwy gall cariad fod
na chadw’r drws ac aros iti ddod?
The mural The Passage of Pilgrims is a signature mural at the start of the Stony Way - the path of sorrows - the first part of the Marian Way which is mapped on to an ancient track of mediaeval travel and transport used by the Cistercian Monks to access an outlying grange en route to St Mary's Penterry Church, St. Arvans.
The artist Ceri Lloyd Davies has been developing the mural since 2021. It depicts a band of intergenerational, multi faith ‘pilgrims’ headed by a modern day Marian figure, set against a foil of impressionistic symbols derived from the Vesica Pisces – an almond shape lozenge to be found in the fabric of Tintern Abbey above the West door. For the mediaeval world, the Vesica Pisces, represented the two interlocking worlds or realities of the perfect ‘spiritual’ world of forms and the world of nature. The mural also integrates a poem into its design: ‘The Road Begins’, in Welsh and English commissioned from Welsh poet, author and lyricist Grahame Davies.
Ceri studied music at Oxford University, won awards for innovative digital content such as Dance Mat Typing during her many years as a producer and Executive Producer at the BBC and is now a multi-disciplinary Artist. She specialises primarily in performance and installation. Works include The Refusal of God, a video installation exploring the theme of filling the spiritual void in our secular society. Participatory projects for the Arts Council of Wales have included The Polytunnel of Our Dreams, a pop-up curry house and an immersive Walk-Through Digestive System shown at Tate Modern.
Grahame has won numerous prizes, including the Wales Book of the Year Award. His most recent musical collaborations include a commission by National Eisteddfod of Wales: words for requiem Mass by Paul Mealor to commemorate the centenary of the death of the poet Hedd Wyn performed at National Eisteddfod, 2017. He is the author of 17 books in Welsh and English, including The Chosen People, a study of the relationship of the Welsh and Jewish peoples and The Dragon and the Crescent, a study of Wales and Islam, as well as a poetry collection Lightning Beneath the Sea.