Short poem by Christopher Logue For Talitha 1941 - 1971 with illustration by Ralph Steadman. Issued in 50 signed copies. 'Talitha' was the wife of Paul Getty and daughter of the artist Willem Pol. One of the more beautiful of the beautiful people, she died young and rich in Rome. She can be seen in very small parts in a series of British 1960s movies like The System an Oliver Reed film where she plays a foreign student and briefly in Barbarella. Logue, a London friend, writes:
Endlessly moving clouds
But no sign of you.
For three nights running
I have dreamt of you.
Thank you for coming.
Each time we split we said
tomorrow, love. Next day
something had been arranged,
that made us say:
tomorrow is the blind man's holiday.
Rain wets the town.
Skids end and drivers die.
I scratch my head.
I tidy up my room.
Living for ever is a kindly lie.
We will not quarrel in posterity.
Talitha will live for ever.
I hadn't appreciated Logue until reading this, an exceptional poem with beautiful last lines. Also some of Steadman's best work. All glories to Talitha.