"In the undercroft

In the crypt of the wood
Clammy drippings percolate"

A quote from David Jones' writings about his experiences in the First World War. He was an artist and a poet, highly regarded by other artists and poets. He was engaged for a while to Eric Gill's daughter, Petra, but that may have been before he knew that Gill enjoyed incest. For whatever reason, he broke off the engagement, never married and struggled with mental illness through the rest of his life while producing slightly surreal but gentle watercolours, engravings and poetry.

The lettering was carved by Richard Kindersley, whose own father David Kindersley was apprenticed as a stone-cutter with Eric Gill.

I love the way the letters interlock with one another and change in scale to fit on the same length of line. The piece of slate sits above an old water trough in my garden, where clammy drippings do indeed percolate.