In the edition of his play, The Elder Statesman, T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) wrote this dedicatory poem in 1957 to his second wife, Valerie (Esme Valerie Fletcher, 1926-2012).

It was a “May-December romance”, as Valerie, who had been Eliot’s secretary at Faber & Faber, was 38 years younger than the poet. With Valerie, Eliot believed–possibly for the first time in his life–that he had found happiness.