For Anne on Her 80th
From windy Haro Strait
A buzz of disbelief is
going all around
Stirring discussions
long and weighty
Can it be true that
Anne is turning eighty?
It doesn’t seem so
long ago that young English nurse
Gave old St. Mary’s a
try for better or worse
To recharge her purse
then keep on the lam
But changed course when
she met a man named Sam.
No less likely couple
ever shared a bunk
He a roaring
buccaneer, a shirtless hunk
She a well-mannered
British maid
Quite unprepared for
the beachcombing trade
But she proved to be one
history’s great good sports
By chasing runaway
logs from Bowen to Cortes
Becoming in time a well-known
coastal fixture
With her bare-chested
skipper on the good ship Vulture.
From busy Roger Curtis
to treacherous Rose Spit
The Coast came to know
them as they knew it
Their ship a familiar
sight in every lonely bay
Welcomed by salty souls
all along the way
The hard-logging
Dougans loved to talk and roister
The clever Jones boys perfected
the lowly oyster
Skinny Jimmy with his
goats and musical charm
Chatty Mary Palmer
over at her Jedediah farm
Betty Dalzell the coastal
history maven
Sooty Grayhill making
mischief in Prideaux Haven
Neil and Betty Carey,
who beachcombed a museum
Through Sam and Anne
we came to know and love ‘em
The years flew by and
Sam turned in his boots
But the Kentish girl
had long since grown roots
In the land of
seaweed, salmon and floating chunk
Alone now she showed
the measure of her spunk
As lady captain of the pretty ship Kivak
Worker for worthy
causes too many to track
Wildlife Club, Grips
recycling, saving the park
Anne is there giving
her best from dawn til dark
With her fine good
humour and endless zeal
Spectacular cakes and
undimmed appeal
She is a source of
bright inspiration
For the entire Pender Harbour
Tracing her tracks
from London
Threescore and twenty years
seem hardly enough
But paired with such youthful
spark it defies all sense
Let’s all give thanks
for the Unsinkable Anne Clemence.
--Anonymous
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