As If To Sing

The power of song, to sustain the human spirit, resonates through As if to Sing. A trapped caver crawls back through songs to the sea; Welsh soldiers pack their hearts into a song on the eve of battle, âEUR¿for safe-keepingâEUR(TM); a child crossing a bridge sings âEUR¿a song with no beginning or endâEUR(TM).... Blurring past and present, a âEUR¿torchsongâEUR(TM) of music and light intensifies in âEUR¿The Boys in the BranchesâEUR(TM), a moving sequence to the poetâEUR(TM)s sons where three boys scale a tree to manhood, to âEURœcarve their names on the late sunâEUR?. The collectionâEUR(TM)s closing cadence includes the long poem âEUR¿The Key to PenllainâEUR(TM). Set on the Ceredigion coastline in the summer of 1969, its apocalyptic dream stages a search for a key which could save the planet. This tenth collection is rich in the musical lyricism admired by readers and fellow poets, As if to Sing is an essential addition to this poetâEUR(TM)s compelling body of work. Henry has honed his technique still further; he uses traditional and local elements which hymn Wales and gives them to the reader freshly seen.