Owen Bowen

In the Mabinogion, “The Dream of Macsen Wledig” is a romantic tale relating how Magnus Maximus, future emperor of Rome, dreamed of travelling across the sea and crossing a mountain range until he came to a castle near the mouth of a river. In the great hall of the castle, he found a beautiful maiden, finely dressed and sitting in a golden chair. He became obsessed with the memory of the maiden of his dream and finding her became his quest. It was the name that made Owen deviate from his path. Sarn Elen is an old Roman road running north to south or south to north through Wales. Owen Bowen headed off the main road to the right. The hitchhiker never did get to his destination. Maybe he was never meant to. Fate permitted him to spin a longer thread. Owen Bowen grew to believe that time in the Valley was written in different ways, marking its own particular passage, and expanding to encompass pleasure and contentment. Time in the Valley did not punish with sharpened wings. It flowed differently from its usual course. Measuring time was a distraction. Time in the Valley was an infinite series of present moments. Owen’s life flowed back and forth across the Valley, along irregular paths, until he became part of the Valley, and the Valley became part of him. The serenity of nature and the beauty of the Valley brought him happiness and happiness is worth protecting. Owen Bowen was not alone in protecting what he loved. He could count on Abra’s wrathful and fierce ravens, Oliver’s jackdaws perched like sentries atop the gateposts, glowering at unwelcome visitors and Llew’s starlings, whirling in a pattern like the oval course flown by aircraft awaiting clearance. Dark shapes silhouetted against a green hedge, sharp beaks and talons ready to tear the Devil’s creature apart.