Paddington Visits Wales

Paddington Visits Wales

Paddington stepped down from the train at Cardiff in the rain,

His little red hat tilted bravely against the wind,

A small brown suitcase clutched in his paw,

With a label that still read, Please look after this bear.

The air smelt of salt and coal and warm bread,

And somewhere a choir was practising softly,

Their voices rising like mist over the valleys,

Wrapping the morning in a gentle hymn.

He wandered past bright shop windows and dragon flags,

Pausing to watch a street musician play,

The notes skipping like pebbles over water,

While he nodded politely in time.

Up in Snowdonia the mountains stood proud and green,

And Paddington tried to climb just a little,

His blue coat flapping in the cheerful breeze,

Marmalade sandwich safely tucked inside.

A shepherd waved from across a stone wall,

And sheep stared in woolly confusion,

At the small bear who tipped his hat kindly,

As though introductions were quite necessary.

By evening he sat beside the restless sea,

Gulls circling like scraps of paper in the sky,

He thought Wales felt rather friendly indeed,

And made a note to write home at once.

For wherever a train may carry him next,

Through tunnels dark or fields wide and open,

Paddington knows that kindness is everywhere,

Even on a rainy platform in Wales.