Since the object of the poet's affections is described as "childlike" she cannot be a child. But yes, the poem is reminiscent of HH, whom VN in a November 1951 letter described his work in progress as about "a very moral middle-aged gentleman who falls very immorally in love with his stepdaughter, a girl of thirteen.” HH was certainly was transformed. One wonders how VN might have transformed TOoL.
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:03:08 +0100
From: hafidbouazza@GMAIL.COM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] HH&Symons
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Dear List,Doesn't this poem remind you of HH sleepless in bed, next to Lolita, in hotel The Enchanted Hunters?
Dawn
by: Arthur Symons (1865-1945)
Here in the little room
You sleep the sleep of innocent tired youth,
While I, in very sooth,
Tired, and awake beside you in the gloom,
Watch for the dawn, and feel the morning make
A loneliness about me for your sake.
You are so young, so fair,
And such a child, and might have loved so well;
And now, I cannot tell,
But surely one might love you anywhere,
Come to you as a lover, and make bold
To beg for that which all may buy with gold.
Your sweet, scarce lost, estate
Of innocence, the candour of your eyes,
Your childlike, pleased surprise,
Your patience: these afflict me with a weight
As of some heavy wrong that I must share
With God who made, and man who found you, fair.
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