Olga Rudge & Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..."

218 A Piece of Ginger
his wife Dorothy and his secretary Marcella, Committee and bodyguard.
. . . He [was] in great need of shelter and tenderness, so that he might write
Paradise. . . . So beautiful were the days that all later su√ering is forgotten,
‘and for one beautiful day, there was peace’ ’’ (Canto 117).
In February, Ezra picked up correspondence with Olga for the first time
since the encounter at St. Elizabeth’s. ‘‘Thanks for the silence,’’ he said.
‘‘Mary has a gordorful heredity from both sides. . . . I don’t know what you
two blew up about. Possibly similarity . . . plus Isabel [Pound]. . . . If I ever
get out of this morass, I will let you know.’’ A week later, he expressed his
own despair and malaise: ‘‘feeling like [the poet Juan Ramon] Jiménez for
these months (he spent a year expecting to die each day) . . . attitude has
kept me groping like a fish.’’
‘‘Don’t know if a mother is much use to a girl who has always wanted a
father—perhaps some of the Old Lady’s [Isabel’s] nervous strain [was]
caused by absence of a male parent in her youth,’’ Olga replied, not
recognizing how close she had come to analyzing her own situation. ‘‘I
have heard very seldom from Mary since your arrival. She has not criticized
her father to me, even to the extent of saying ‘how like his mother’
he is.’’
She reminded Ezra that his books and other belongings must be removed
from Casa 60 because the owners were considering selling the
house. Through the years Ezra was at St. Elizabeth’s she had considered
herself caretaker of his property and stayed in Sant’Ambrogio to see that
the valuable memorabilia were preserved. There was no reason for her to
be there now; she wanted to get on with her own life.
‘‘I told Mary that I wanted everything taken at one time, for my convenience
and peace and quiet, [it] is not intended as a declaration of war. I
have enjoyed the Gaudier [Brzeska bust] and the books, have no interest in
the furniture. My permission to enter the house is given to you and to noone
else’’ (implying that Dorothy and Marcella were not welcome). ‘‘I am
glad you are feeling better . . . am all right myself, trying to follow [the]
precepts you had posted on the wall of Rapallo to encourage the population:
‘così vivere che i tuoi figli e i loro discendenti ti ringraziano’ [Live in
such a way that your children and their descendants will be grateful to
you], and ‘L’arciere che manca il centro del bersaglio cerca la causa