Michael Rowan Robinson (U.K.)

To Richard on his 80th Birthday

I think we first met in autumn 1961. Throughout these 60 odd years you’ve been an inspiration, a supporter and a good friend. Thanks to you and our friend, Peter Mansfield, I had something of a literary career as a student, but opted for a career in astrophysics. I can’t find words to express my admiration for your determination to live your life as a poet. 

I did briefly offer you another career option, when you starred in my production of Pirandello’s Each in His Own Way for the Pembroke Players. I like to claim this was the English première, because we were the first to pay royalties to the Pirandello estate. The opening night was memorable because it was a few hours after Kennedy’s assassination, and you and other cast members gamely decided the show must go on. 

I’m in awe of your stream of luminous poems and of your international reputation. I think it would be equally true of you what George Seferis said to me when I visited him in 1964: “If there was just one word left, I would use it for a poem”. 

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