Balasa in a letter to Paddy on 16-3-1968:
"I had just said: Trêves - [de réminiscences] and I am off again walking /
the streets of memory. You must forgive this monotony /
Paddy. It may be "madshags" of old age: the need to /
recapture something of golden days. Such treasures I have had /
and forgotten nothing, so I can still play with the glint of /
light falling on the binding of an old book in the library at /
Baleni or ride a foaming horse on the hills of B?hoci or haunt /
the studio of Earl's Walk, or sit on a kretaen column at olympia /
and pick asphadels by the ?A?lphcas with dear Rado beside me. /
He trying to convert me by Jesuit casuistry on a primeval early morning /
in pagan fields to his faith. I said: "Cela n'est pas l'endroit choisi /
pour athres les payens a notre foi. Ici, les Dieux anciens sont trop forts. /
He said: "Balasa vous êtes plus sage que moi!" and we both laughed /
happily together: I can still see his intelligent wrinkled smile. /
I liked him enormously. His thought was so clear and rapid. /
He was so civilized yet one felt such stormy weather in his past?"
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