The hidden valley of light

A favourite George Mackay Brown verse, which he wrote in 1950, and is within the pictured volume - his first:


Rackwick
(for Ian MacInnes)

Let no voice idly whisper here. 
Between those strong red cliffs, 
under that great mild sky 
lies Orkney’s last enchantment,  
the hidden valley of light.
Sweetness from the clouds pouring,
songs from the surging sea. 
Fenceless fields, fishermen with ploughs
and old heroes, endlessly sleeping
in Rackwick’s compassionate hills.

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George Mackay Brown (1921 – 1996) 

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