Robert Ilson
His colours fired and fused into
The forms they fit without constraint
Are testimony to how much
He loves paint.
His denizens of pub and palace
Scowl and howl without restraint
Save art's own discipline because
He loves paint.
Hogarth and Sickert clasp their son
With no cause for the least complaint :
Their lineage is safe because
He loves paint.
And you ? Dare you immerse yourself
In what transcends the coy or quaint ?
You will -- if you, like him, are one
Who loves paint.