A plaque will be unveiled to remember ‘Remembering’ in the village of Rhoscrowther beyond Pembroke at the end of May.

The iconic poem ‘Cofio’ (Remembering) was composed by Waldo Williams in 1931 when visiting his great friend, Willie Jenkins, the early ILP (Independent Labour Party) candidate, at Hoplass Farm nearby.

He must have spent some time previously immersed in his thoughts regarding matters that should be remembered or cannot be remembered. The first stanza came to him involuntary as he harvested swedes and the following five stanzas were composed that evening in the farmhouse after supper.

This is the poem of his heard far more often than any of his other compositions. The poem expresses a distant longing for lost civilisations, their expressive words and glorious tales of which no one now recollects.

The plaque, with D. M. Lloyd’s translation of the poem, will be unveiled by brothers Prys and Rhodri Morgan, the former an Emeritus Professor at Swansea University and the latter the former Welsh Government First Minister. Their father, Professor T. J. Morgan, played a significant role in ensuring Waldo’s release from military conscription when he faced the conscientious objectors tribunal at Carmarthen in 1942. That was the occasion when Waldo made his famous ‘statement’ explaining why he was a pacifist by referring to William Blake’s ‘Divine Intervention’ theory.

The unveiling has been organised by Cymdeithas Waldo and will take place on Thursday, May 26, at Rhoscrowther Hall, at 6.30 pm. Following the unveiling, Angharad Edwards will read the poem ‘Cofio’ and Professor M. Wynn Thomas, from Swansea University, will deliver a lecture in English entitled ‘Waldo Williams and the nobility of poetry’.

There will be an entrance fee of £5 for the occasion.

Cymdeithas Waldo are indebted to Valero, Literature Wales and the Friends of Friendless Churches for their support.