*I wrote this poem towards the end of fourteen days onboard Cunard’s Queen Mary II on a Trans-Atlantic crossing from Southampton to New York and back again. It was a marvellous two weeks and we met some lovely people. People who inspired the following.

Don’t fret about just getting there,

On hitting all your goals.

Take time, instead, to savour

Your meetings with those souls,

Whose tales and talk and laughter

Help your heart to grow.

For when you’ll find those precious few

You simply never know.

 

New friends from o’er in Newtownards,

Linda and Stanley, her long-haired groom,

Spending time with both of you

Has dispelled all woes and doubts and gloom.

Your grace, your charm, your joyfulness,

Has proved such a massive hit,

You’ve raised us up, persuaded us,

To cease from slumming it.

 

And Mark and Lynne, from down Poole way,

You’ve touched both our hearts

With your strength and love and desire

To make each day a brand new start.

Accompanying you, at night to dine,

Has been something so very fine.

I’ll miss your boundless energy

As we ate and drank our way over the sea.

 

One million seconds on the waves,

A fortnight on this ship,

Has proved an unexpected chance to meet

Folks who’ve given my step a skip.

So, as the end draws ever near,

I find I’ve grown quite fond

Of the six who voyaged with me

Both ways across the pond.

 

Gavin Dimmock

15 November 2019.

Cunard Queen Mary II.