Her Given Name Ann Poem by Francis Duggan

At the south beach cafe overlooking the sea
She sat on her own at a table enjoying cake and tea
Gray wavy hair to her shoulders and soulful brown eyes
In hair dyes and anti ageing creams her age she did not disguise

I was the only other person in the cafe drinking a coffee
When she said come and join me if in need of company
So i joined her at her table we talked for awhile
Such a warm and friendly lady free of conceit or guile

She needed someone to talk to her story to tell
A story never to be published in book form to sell
She was raised in a Melbourne Orphanage her given name Ann
One with good and bad memories over an eight decade time span

One who in her life who has lived through good times and bad
She never knew her mother or the man who was her dad
Her husband of sixty years Leon died last year
She said his spirit to her remains ever near

In life she said you always do need luck on your side
Her only child Marie in her mid twenties in childbirth died
But the baby boy Timmy survived Ann is a great grandmother today
There is many an up and down in life she wistfully did say

We chatted for a half an hour and on parting she did say
Such a beautiful view from this cafe looking out on the bay
Though i have not seen her since then the memories with me remain
Of a beautiful soul who had known it tough that i may not see again.