[img]1472|left|Janet Hoult||no_popup[/img][Editor’s Note: When our favorite poet, Dr. Hoult, turned 75 last October, her 78-year-old husband Charley took the family to the Queen Mary. In her honor, Dr. Hoult created this tribute. It happens she was on one of the Queen’s last voyages across the Atlantic. “I discovered,” she says, “we had both been ‘launched’ in the same year, 1936.”]
[img]1471|exact|Queen Mary||no_popup[/img]
The Queen and I are of an age
When dancing swing was all the rage
In ’36 we both were launched.
Our early years were sure not staunched
For we both traveled the wide world over
Although our lives weren’t steeped in clover
She carried troops in World War II
I worked with refugees in Beirut
She sailed the oceans from beach to beach
I went where I could study and teach
In Europe, the Middle East and Asia
I found study and teaching quite a pleasure
We’ve both grown old at 75
I’m just glad I’m still alive
And the Queen shows absolutely no restraint
All decked out in her new coat of paint.
Her building began, or so I’ve been told,
In ’34, making her two years older
I laughed and said that had to be wrong
Someone needs to sing a new song
For I can certainly say without hesitation
The Queen was launched after 24 months gestation
So in 1936 we both emerged with forms quite fine
Although the months to mold me just totaled nine..!
Dr. Hoult may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
