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

226 A Piece of Ginger
‘‘I would be ready to receive Him in ten days or two weeks,’’ she wrote
on March 2. ‘‘Since one can’t count on the weather . . . He and Mary could
spend the first night or two at Villa Chiara, see the urologist, and face the
bit of a walk to Casita 131 rested. . . . Yeats’ ex-bed and bedtable had a lick
of paint and other contrivings . . . so if He feeling up to the simple life, glad
to see Him when He likes.’’ She reminded Ezra that Dottoressa Elfreide
Bacigalupo’s old father ‘‘used a catheter for the last twenty years of his life,
and got around all right.’’
On April 7 she wrote a letter to Duncan ‘‘in haste—am painting, cleaning,
contriving . . . EP is expected here, just before or after Easter. . . .
please—don’t tell anyone else about this, I mean EP’s coming. The situation
is extremely delicate, so for the moment consider this top secret.’’
Olga was determined ‘‘to set the record straight’’ in her notebook entry
of April 25, 1962: ‘‘EP motors from Tirolo with Mary to stay with OR. . . .
I was not trying to entice Him from Brunnenburg, but when He was well
enough to move, He came back to me at Sant’Ambrogio—and stayed. I
gave up my job and took over.’’
Mary’s autobiography recorded the events leading up to their reunion:
‘‘[It was] a long illness . . . but he recovered. And by the time the magnolia
I had first seen in bloom when my son was born was in full bloom once
more, he came out and walked in the garden. It was decided that as soon as
he was strong enough to travel, I would take him back to Sant’Ambrogio
for a visit. And ever since, he and Mamile have been taking care of each
other.’’