CECIL BROWN
305
notices, the author will be off for Italy, Spain, North Africa, Greece
and Ceylon. He does not plan to return until next winter."
Between these two images, Tennessee has chosen the best from
both worlds. He has been famous and wealthy a long time, but he
has known poverty. Now his life is simple, almost without desire.
His philosophy is epicurean: each man takes care of his own garden,
leave God out of it. His consensus of life: "Self-pity is the worst
emotion there is, next to deliberate unkindness."
After dinner Marie delighted us with a story about an Irishman,
Pat, whose friend got his head cut off by the British. "And so, Pat
had to go and identify his friend," she said, "and when the head of
his friend was held up" -she lifted her arms high overhead-'''is
this your friend,' the British asked him, holding the head up, 'No'
says Pat, 'he wasn't that tall.'"
There was a silence. Time indeed seemed suspended. Tennessee
looked very quiet in this last picture I have of him. Then he said,
"Power is an embarassing thing to have. I never wanted. power,
except power over myself." Then he pushed himself back from the
table, .as if to take all of his life and his work into better perspective.
"It's nice, you know,
to
have a simple life. I want to love and that
can be it," he said, looking up at me, "You know what I mean?"
