Size isn't everything

More exploring betwixt meetings today.
Changing at King's Cross I took the opportunity to wander into St Pancras station. The facade must be a strong contender for most beautiful building in London, but inside is just as good.
The architectural integrity of that great curved glass roof is astounding, it's such an impressive space, built to impress with architecture of purpose and beauty. As you enter the towering statue The Lovers dominates the view, they need to to draw your eye away from the architecture, their huge scale seeming somehow right - in keeping with the giant Dent timepiece above their heads that is placed to steal your gaze as you arrive by train.

But as I wandered I noticed little slates (Cumbrian slate) set in the floor with verse, tantalisingly familiar verse, and as I followed them they brought me to their author.
The bronze of John Betjeman is fractionally larger than life, but it's transfixing. The sense of personality is immediate, the flow of movement and pleasure frozen in a moment is wonderful, set atop a larger inscribed slate circle it invites the viewer to interact, it was impossible not to walk around it, appreciate all its aspects and elements, to look up to appreciate the moment the poet is frozen in. It works in its entirety - the details of untied shoe laces, fallen trouser hem and ruffled comfort match perfectly with the look of wonder at where he finds himself.
In a building as fine as this, with works as large and dramatic as the Clock and the Lovers - this tribute to a much loved man in a place he loved much was wonderful to see.

"and in the shadowless unclouded glare
Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where
A misty sea-line meets the wash of air"