thoughts.com
portrait of a man drowning
Who can he be
That man alone in the saloon bar's corner?
Who can he be
that man alone, solitary, musing, remembering
What can he be?
The shoulders haunched
The face pocked, rived and valleyed
With a lifetime's small tragedies
The slanting mirror on the wall
Emblemed with Ind Coope and Alsop (sic)
Reflecting his receding hair
his thick shoulders
His silent simian hirsute hands
What is, what was the weight
that sloped those haunching shoulders
that man alone, solitary, musing, thinking
of what can he be
nothing?
Or does he live again the nightmare
Of all the shame he suffered and
made others suffer
the torn promise, the shattered word
His red hand caught in the emotional till
The things he had never done
and never would do now
Lost lovely things, the hopeless things long lost
The hot blush of childhood lies
Love and hate and fear and love
again and hate
And the ultimate terrable
ineluctable wrath of God
Does he hear the silent howl
of death? Haunched solitary, silent
That man alone in the saloon bar's corner
That man alone, solitary, musing
who can he be?
I lift my eyes from the bitter pint
I see that man in the mirror
That man is me
richard burton,5th november,1965
i forgot to list the sources from my last post:
melvyn bragg-rich
kinostars-peter w. engelmeier
leading men-orbis
i hope itīs not inappropiate if i post more excerpts from the book.i know this is the style icon thread so it should be about fashion and style but in burtonīs case i think his personality was the most dazzling thing about him andn outshone anything he could have worn ...and then of course his talent and his classic face....to me his style doesnīt reeally matter.he could have worn sackcloth and still be just as dazzling and fascinating (or even more so
)...so if anyone is annoyed by the quotes from the book let me know about it.there are many excerpts from his notebooks in it and i think it gives a lot of insight.he was such a witty ,smart,sometimes sharp observer,intelligent and struggling....
sources:
melvyn bragg-rich
helmut berger-ich
with philip burton,his mentor, who should give him his surname
richard as prince hal,henry IV,stratford 1951."burton is a still brimming pool,running disturbingly deep:at twenty-five he commands repose and can make silence garrulous."kenneth tynan
richard and his third wife susan in the grounds of le pays de galles,celigny
marriage to sally,las vegas,1983
elizabeth and richard with different partners..strange somehow
one could argue whoīs stealing the show here....iīd say helmut berger
