Émile Nelligan, "Nostalgia for Toys"

My heart still keeps a sadness graven there,
Affection for that winsome child for whom
Death blew upon his hunting horn of doom
Because she was so lovely, sweet, and fair.

Like a northern prince inside his Kremlin's lair,
Since then I feel walled-in against the world,
And, choked with grief around my heart-strings
curled,
Love no longer swells as in my seventh year.

Whereto has fled that dat of childhood folderols,
When Lucille and I were jumping jacks for fun
In crumpled clothes together on the run?

The little girl has climbed beyond the moon,
And I have lost my pride in dressing dolls . . .
Ah! to pass the gate of twenty years so soon!
- from The Complete Poems of Émile Nelligan, edited and translated by Fred Cogswell, (Montréal: Harvest House, 1983), p 26.

LJ Appearance Question

Just a question to my readership: Does livejournal look alright, with all of my hyperlinks closed and the close-quote visible? Or not?

On Why Immigration Might be Bad (The British Case)

From Prospect Magazine:

Migration limits

February 2003

Large-scale immigration into Britain and some other European countries is a recent phenomenon and, despite the benefits it brings, cannot continue at current rates without disturbing existing national cultures and identities. A prominent left-wing economist argues that numbers do matter

Bob Rowthorn

( Read more... )