English poem
Ii
by Archibald Allan Bowman (1883–1936)
There comes to me a memorable thought Borne on that voice, which like some wandering gleam Brings freshness into Hegel’s well-worn theme From Naples lately, Croce, he who taught That Art’s true nature is not to be sought In what is fitted only to redeem By strict initiation souls who dream Of beauty in some crafty pattern wrought, But in the apt Expression, wheresoe’er Expression apt is found, the Inward still Externalizing till the soul declare The thing within it, and divinely fill With sound or sign the habitable air-- A language universal as man’s will.
HESEPE, 18th June