At the heart of it all

Let’s go up the hillside to the highest ridge of Storr

Where the lapwing sings a eulogy at the wonder of it all

As the evening shadows plunder the cloak around the world

We remember all the mornings at the heart of it all

 

Chorus

 

At the heart of it all is a calling to this land

In the words of our salvation is a song for the common man

At the heart of it all is a story to be told

For the sake of our salvation and the troubles we behold

 

You can see the river rising-  it’s banks will creak and slide

There’s a silence in the evergreens and a surging of the tide

Well it’s nature’s way of saying our backs are up against the wall

By the hush of the world in the lull before the storm

 

Chorus

 

The poems and the musings of Sorley MacLean* 

They tumble and cascade across the page of every man

They will rise and spring to life again in a song for the good of all

Where a people and their land are at the heart of it all

 

• Gaelic poet from the Isle of Raasay ,Skye.