Some of our loves and attachments are elemental and beyond
our choosing, and for that very reason they come spiced with
pain and regret and need and hollowness and a feeling as close
to anger as I will ever be able to imagine.
Colm Toibin
Mothers and Sons. |
As I settled down to sleep in that new bed in the dark city,
I saw that it was too late now, too late for everything. I would
not be given a second chance. In the hours when I woke, I have
to tell you that this struck me almost with relief.
Colm Toibin
Mothers and Sons. |
in skies of deepening blue
the moon, heaven's queen
was now afloat
Colm Toibin |
You are an American and nobody knows who your father was or
who your grandfather was. You could be anybody.
Colm Toibin
The Master. |
Writing these pieces helped me to come to terms with things
- with my own interest in secret, erotic energy (Roger Casement
and Thomas Mann), my pure admiration for figures who, unlike
myself, weren't afraid (Oscar Wilde, Bacon, Almodóvar),
my abiding fascination with sadness (Elizabeth Bishop, James
Baldwin) and, indeed, tragedy (Thom Gunn and Mark Doty).
Colm Toibin
In introduction to his collection of essays,
Love In a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodóvar. |
It is terrible to be an unprotected being.
Colm Toibin
The Master. |
You must tell me something that you are sure is true.
Colm Toibin
The Master. |
For so many years now he had had no country, no family, no
establishment of his own, merely a flat in London where he worked.
... It was as though he lived a life that lacked a fazade, a
stretch of frontage to protect him from the world. Lamb House
would offer him beautiful windows from which to view the outside;
the outside, in turn, could peer in only at his invitation.
Colm Toibin
The Master. |
It is easier to renounce bravery than to be brave over and
over.
Colm Toibin
The Master. |
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