Pamela wrote: My mother wrote this poem about 1977. I remember her dancing around the kitchen, so pleased with the verses she had created. After she died, I rediscovered the poem and set it to music, trying to convey the excitement she had expressed about writing it. I played it at her Memorial Service with my sister and some musical friends, which is where this video came from. – PH

Video

Lyrics

I Found a Place Where Angelica Grows

I found a place where Angelica grows,
In Sydney Harbour, where marsh birds incline.
I went there one mist-bounded, warm April morning
With three eager children, sea-treasures to find.

They found pretty sea shells, pearl blue in the water;
They splashed through snow rivers and dampened their clothes;
Pieces of driftwood they vowed they would cherish,
And I found a place where Angelica grows.

Angelica, sea-loving gentle white flower,
Was brought here from France, so an old legend goes;
To Louisbourg’s cold rocky land by the sailors,
Who, longing for home, threw its seed on our shores.

Today, ‘gainst the stone of Louisbourg’s ramparts
One sees the white flower lend its grace through the mists;
Its lacy-like bloom has outlasted the generals,
Outlasted the cannons, and maids sailors kissed.

The old legend says that the seeds in the New World
Grow only at Louisbourg, speak France’s woes.
Imagine my joy on that moist April morning
When I found a place where Angelica grows!

The past haunted me as of history borning
As I gathered the children sea-wet from their toes,
Their pockets were crammed to the full with their findings,
But I found a place where Angelica grows.

~ Poem by June (Holm) Maginley c. 1977

Sheet music

This is a working copy; the pencil marks are mine; I was playing accordion. – HH