Canadian History in Verse

In the Opinion page article "Canada's Search for Identity," Feb. 26, the author refers to the ubiquitous "Je me souviens" emblazoned on every Quebec license plate, which is supposed to be the Quebec equivalent to "Remember the Alamo" in connotation.

It is my information that this is but one line of a three-line poem by Eugene Tache, a Quebecois of some note, and is carved into the stonework of the Quebec provincial parliament building. The poem reads: "Je me souviens/Que, ne sous le lys/Je fleuris sous la rose." The English translation is: I remember /that born under the lily [read Fleur de Lys or lilies of France]/I bloom under the rose [the rose of England]." Peter Porteous, Nepean, Ontario

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