Dylan Thomas
Paul Ferris in his biography of Dylan Thomas and ‘The Times’ in Thomas’s obituary describe how when Dylan Thomas was working
on propaganda films in Bradford, he met Ruth and became infatuated with her. Ruth is said to have valued their friendship
but always maintained that it was purely platonic.
She kept a poem that he had headed "For Ruth". It may have been written with her in mind but Ruth commented, "Most young poets carry some half- or even completely-formed piece that they can dash off spontaneously and give to someone." The poem was published in Poetry (London), in April 1944, as "Last night I dived my beggar arm". The version in Ruth’s possession had variants throughout:
Last night he)
I) dived my beggar arm
Into her breast that wore no heart
For me)
her) alone only the deep drum
Telling her hurt heart
That her luminous, tumbled limbs
Will plunge his betrayal through the sky
So the betrayed will read in the sunbeams
Of a death in another country.
Ruth kept several letters from Thomas and in one of 19 September 1943 he wrote, "…. I’ve been in Wales for some weeks now, and have had time and a rinsed head enough to be able to write what I want. In London, I mean to write you every day, but the laziness, the horror and self-pity, that London drizzles down on me stop everything but the ghost of a hope that perhaps you will ring …" >>