The Moment Wales Became A Part Of Me Poem by Mario, Lucien, Rene Odekerken

It was not in the grandeur of
Snowdonia's peaks,
not in the crash of waves upon
Pembrokeshire's shore.
Not in the hush of ancient forests,
where the trees whisper stories older than time.

It was not the red dragon on a fluttering flag,
or the echo of a language carved from song.
Not the chapel hymns rising like mist
in the valleys,
not the laughter of childeren in the rain.

It was a moment-
a breath of wind laced with salt and earth,
a footprint softened by moss,
a voice calling me home in a tongue
I did not yet know.

And there, in the stillness between heartbeats,
Wales was no longer a place I had come to.
It was a pulse beneath my skin,
a river running through my veins.
It was me.