Nancy Blake Poem by Francis Duggan

In the Red Door Cafe every evening around four
She sits at table by the window for a half an hour or more
And with her cappucino she eats a slice of cake
The gray haired octogenarian endearing Nancy Blake.

You need not be a genius to tell that she came from far away
For that accent she brought with her remains with her today
She arrived by ship in 1938 on the fourteenth day of May
I love this southern country Nancy from Swansea say.

Her son his daughter and her children live on the Sunshine Coast
And she does not see them often once every two years at most
She says they keep in contact once a forthnight by phone
And that she never feels lonely though she lives all alone.

She says I never did return to Wales not even for a holiday
And who would know me in Swansea now for I am old and gray
And though I'll spend my last days in Victoria by the Pacific sea
A migrant in this Southern Land is all I'll ever be.

Whenever I meet her in the cafe she greets me with a smile
Saying sit here at my table and we'll talk for awhile
We came from neighbouring Countries not all that far apart
And my grandmother was Irish she was so kind of heart.

At the Red Door Cafe every evening around four
She sits at table by the window for half an hour or more
And with her cappucino she eats a slice of cake
The gray haired octogenarian endearing Nancy Blake.