Reponding to Barfield, Part 3.5: A Poetic Interlude

[Back to Part 3]

This is about the halfway point for the Barfield series, and at this point in the book he includes a poem that summarizes his philosophy. I liked the poem and so I think it's appropriate to post it here as a summary looking back and looking forward.



REFLECTION by George Rostrevor Hamilton (1952)
When hill, tree, cloud, those shadowy forms
Ascending heaven are seen,
Their mindless beauty I from far
Admire, a gulf between;

Yet in the untroubled river when
Their true ideas I find,
That river, joined in trance with me,
Becomes my second mind.



The river is like Barfield's "participation."


[Forward to Part 4]