I watched the coloured seamen in the morning mist,
Slouching along the damp brown street,
Cursing and laughing in the dismal dawn.
The sea had grumbled through the night,
Small yellow lights had flickered far and near,
Huge chains clattered on the ice-cold quays,
And daylight had seemed a hundred years away…
But slowly the long cold night retreated
Behind the cranes and masts and funnels,
The sea-signals wailed beyond the harbour
And seabirds came suddenly out of the mist.
And six coloured seamen came slouching along
With the laughter of the Levant in their eyes
And contempt in their tapering hands.
Their coffee was waiting in some smoke-laden den,
With smooth yellow dice on the unswept table,
And behind the dirty green window
No lazy dream of Africa or Arabia or India,
Nor any dreary dockland morning
Would mar one minute for them.
by Idris Davies
Fun fact: Tiger Bay (Welsh: Bae Teigr) was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was rebranded as Cardiff Bay, following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water. The development of the Cardiff Docks played a major part in Cardiff’s development by being the means of exporting coal from the South Wales Valleys to the rest of the world, helping to power the Industrial Age. The coal mining industry helped fund the growth of Cardiff to become the capital city of Wales and contributed towards making the docks owner, The 3rd Marquess of Bute, the richest man in the world at the time
