Roedd 16 Hydref 2019 yn nodi dwy flynedd ers llofruddiaeth greulon y newyddiadurwraig ymchwiliol a’r ymgyrchydd gwrth-lygredd adnabyddus o Malta, Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Er bod tri dyn bellach wedi eu cyhuddo’n ffurfiol o’i llofruddio, nid oes eto ddyddiad ar gyfer eu treial, ac mae’r rhai a orchmynnodd ei lladd â’u traed yn rhydd. Mae cofeb iddi yn Valetta wedi ei ddinistrio droeon gan yr awdurdodau. Mewn ymateb i hyn, mae PEN Rhyngwladol wedi cychwyn cofeb farddonol fel teyrnged i’w dewrder a’i hymroddiad i ryddid mynegiant. Gellir darllen y cerddi a ysgrifennwyd i anrhydeddu ei hetifeddiaeth yma. (Saesneg yn unig)
Mae aelod o bwyllgor gweithredol PEN Cymru, Simon Mundy, wedi cyfrannu cerdd ingol i’r gofeb farddoniaeth, isod.
16 October 2019 marked two years since the brutal assassination of Malta’s best-known investigative journalist and anti-corruption campaigner, Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Although three men have now been formally charged with her murder, a date for their trial has yet to be set while those who ordered her killing remain at large. A memorial for her in Valetta, has been repeatedly destroyed by the authorities. In response, PEN International has devised a poetry memorial as a tribute to her courage and her dedication to freedom of expression. You can read poems written to honour her legacy here.
Simon Mundy, a member of Wales PEN Cymru’s executive board, has contributed a poignant poem to the poetry memorial, below.
Daphne – In Memoriam
A first morning in Malta,
Guided like a tourist past trinket shops
Towards lunch, it was hardly a surprise
To find that on a small island
Everybody knew my business,
Theirs, each other’s.
Truth is always elusive and recollection tricksy.
Memory has to be massaged from the haze,
Rescued from the fickleness of history,
The arrogance of men.
When you shake hands, settle down
For the opening of wine,
How different it would have felt
To have known you were meeting a martyr
Soon to pay for questioning crime.
Simon Mundy