Light Will Return

Light Will Return contains diverse and insightful poetry that explores the nexus of spirituality, science, identity and technology. Moving smoothly between theology and mathematics, artificial intelligence, psalms and sonnets, Iain Strachan’s debut collection poses searching questions about personal meaning, faith and what it means to be human in an increasingly mediated world. Alongside poems that engage with physics, algorithms, and digital culture sit deeply personal reflections about family, memory, love and loss. Childhood, parenthood, doubt, gratitude, and identity are explored with frank honesty and quiet curiosity, grounding the intellectual reach of the collection within ontology—the lived experience. Playful, questioning and quietly emotional, Light Will Return invites us all to reflect on how faith and reason, science and mystery, and especially our past and future can shape our individual identities. Light Will Return is a collection of poetry that is both intellectual and visceral—and in which we can search patiently for illumination. The Author: Iain Strachan lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and daughter, and is a retired computer scientist, with a PhD in Machine Learning and AI. He made a career out of AI for engineering and medical applications, and how has a career keeping it out of poetry groups! He has been writing poetry on and off since 1993, and more regularly since joining Invisible Poets in 2022. His work, including the title poem for this book has been broadcast on BBC Radio Oxford , and he has published several poems in the Wheelsong Poetry Anthologies. He is also a volunteer with the Samaritans, and an active member of Abingdon Local Quaker Meeting.