For Betty Backhouse
Where ever you may be.

Way back in 1959
my parents, my sister and I.
Sailed from New York harbour
passed the Statue of Liberty
on an ocean liner called the RML Ivernia.
It was on this liner I met a girl slightly older than me,
who completely captivated me.
She was travelling with her parents and her brother.
They were from Australia
and her name was Betty.
She reminded me so much of my Canadian rose,
and the resemblance was uncanny.
The trip to England took seven nights and seven days.
Within those days,
she swept my heart completely away.
My biggest regret now is
I forgot to ask them where they lived in Australia.
When we docked in Southampton
in the December of that year,
amidst the rush and excitement
of returning to the land of my birth
I looked around and they were gone.
I often wonder how Betty and her brother ever got on.
That was almost fifty years ago
and hopes of ever seeing them are gone,
but I will always remember that Australian rose
until my final breath is taken away.
Should they ever read this by chance one day.
I hope that life has been wonderful to them both,
Betty and her brother where ever they may be.

3 June 2008

David Harris

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-australian-rose/