WORDS FAIL - (A Fell Revisited)

                                                 

                                                                                        WORDS FAIL

These words do not ring true,

cannot contain the tread

of rubber sole upon the beaten track,

the slide of stone beneath the feet,

the rustling of leaves

among the tangled roots.

These words cannot ring true;

as roots erode the step

whose shelf they form –

my words fail to express

the stressful joy, fail to commune

with nature. These words

do not permit the real footfall.

The fell remains

Unconquered.

Malcolm Evison

09 January 2016

Revision of Apropos Kings How – May 1981