home for the weekend

The Welsh Hill Country
…
Too far for you to see
The fluke and foot-rot and the fat maggot
Gnawing the skin from the small bones,
The sheep are grazing at Bwlch-y-Fedwen,
Arranged romantically in the usual manner
On a bleak background of bald stone.
…
Too far for you to see
The moss and the mould on the cold chimneys,
The nettles growing through the cracked doors,
The houses stand empty at Nant-yr-Eira,
There are holes in the roofs that are thatched with sunlight,
And the fields are reverting to the bare moor.
…
Too far, too far to see
The set of his eyes and the slow pthisis
Wasting his frame under the ripped coat,
There’s a man still farming at Ty’n-y-Fawnog,
Contributing grimly to the accepted pattern,
The embryo music dead in his throat.
…
(RS Thomas)

Too far perhaps for you to see all the sheep that do not — quite — glow in the dark: twenty-one years after Chernobyl, 359 holdings and 180,000 sheep (Food Standards Agency figures) remain under Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 restrictions because of continuing radioactive contamination.