And they are gone ...

And they are gone: ay, ages long ago
These lovers fled away into the storm

It's Keats day here at Crypto-Catholic Libertine in honour of his greatest poem. Relevant to some stuff coming up, Keats was a huge Ann Radcliffe fan. But there is also something in Keats that Radcliffe didn't get and you can see it in the lines above.

Youth always dies just like old people do. The only difference is that youth dies a lot sooner. You'd think this would be obvious. What dies faster than a youth movement? Fashion is driven by youth; permanence is driven by the middle aged and the old.

I shy away from partisan politics here but it seems to me that this is a place where great literature has bearing on current events. All my life I have read people claiming the future is on their side because the youth vote is. Our cause is supported by the young; their cause is supported by the old. It seems so obvious that in just a few years, their supporters will be pushing up daisies and our supporters will carry the day. But in just a few years our now-young supporters will be middle aged and they will ride away in the sleet-filled night just like Madeline and Porphyro.