Richard Burton Signage – Talbot Memorial Park

Talbot Memorial Park in Port Talbot has displayed signage in tribute to the life of local boy turned Hollywood star Richard Burton for some time. The large sign displays an image of Burton alongside his previously unpublished but now well-known poem. However over the years the sign had fallen into disrepair, we were therefore commissioned by the local authority to provide signage design, manufacture and installation to replace the large panel.

The Poem

The mountain earth feels damp against my hand; 
Around me sway a thousand sap-filled stalks 
Of tender grass; The cows browse drowsily 
Below me in the fields, and silly sheep 
Bleat so pathetically. Dusk descends 
And makes the cool earth cooler; lovers slow 
In Sunday best drift past like ghosts of laughs 
And murmurings; and some go up and some 
Go down the mountain. 
I see the gamblers hide behind some hedge or shade, 
And play silently between desterity 
Of toil’s blunt fingers shuffling dirty cards; 
And panting greyhounds run a merry race around them 
In the fading light. 
There is no life stir now 
There is no hub-bub of activity; 
The rushing of the whispering waterfall 
Breathes silence on the mad tormented valley. 
The voices rise insidiously as is 
The creeping dusk “Abide with me”, they moan, 
A hundred coal-fogged voices harmoniously 
Goad up in an ecstasy of melancholy magic; 
All is still. 
And there were things that made me; 
Grew around the core of my young soul, 
But I have other worlds for whom to weep; 
I shall return no more. 

The untitled, undated poem was found by Burton’s widow, Sally, 20 years after his death in 1984. Burton’s passionate patriotism to Wales is written throughout all 27-lines of the poem. The mention of farm animals, fields and mountains emphasise Burton’s affection to his birthplace.

This simple signage in remembrance of the famous Welsh actor is displayed alongside a flower bed and has become the focal point for many of the parks visitors.