Vigil Poems

This compilation of three of his books is a fine introduction to this emotional poet to English-speaking readers. Kindled by the death of his mother and his partner, Micheline LaFrance, Royer has set out to delve in poetic verse a world that seems to be fading away. References are made to writers that have influenced the poet, while he explores in short-lined verse about state of wakefulness for which death is responsible. There is also a sense of vigil, of watch, of alert in these precise and simple words. An elder speaks to the young. It is with honour that I will tackle the translation of these moving poems that form the latest work of one of the last of a generation of poets that have passed away in the last decade.