On Meeting John And Eileen Tarrant Poem by Francis Duggan

I had not seen John and Eileen for years
And saying goodbye brought me that close to tears
For those last goodbyes are always hard to say
And this time next week they will be far away

From sunny and breezy Melbourne in the fall
But they will have great memories to recall
Of their holiday in this great southern Land
And another visit they've already planned.

It was in Melbourne they became man and wife
And enjoyed their first five years of married life
And about Australia they won't say any wrong
And they even plan to grow old in Geelong.

They live near where the great Blackwater flow
On towards salt water it crawls deep and slow
And o'er the flat green countryside in Spring
The swallows as they fly twitter and sing.

It won't be long till them again we see
Perhaps a year or two or at the most three
And who knows the next time they might even stay
And in this Southern Land grow old and gray.