deepest reason fails

William Neill's poetry in English is probably less well-known than his Scots and Gaelic work ...

... but I really like this (pictured ) English volume, from 1992 - and here's a short verse from within:


Beneath All

Under these singing birds,
oak, ash and pine,
these beautiful swans that sail,
is that for which all words,
each man-made sign,
shall for all striving fail.

Layer upon layer lies.
All human pride,
and deepest reason fails
beneath these mysteries
that move and change and glide
beneath seen hills, seen dales.

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William Neill (1922 - 2010)

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