NOVEMBER THE FIRST, 1951

Rose and I sailed on La Liberte

To the land of the free

From jolly old England

Still bathed in austerity.

On board we got up early

To gaze at the Statue of Liberty

And dazed we stepped upon the shores

Of the land of opportunity.

We had twenty-seven dollars between us.

We each had a waiting job.

We arrived on a Thursday

On Monday we joined the hub.

We subwayed to our bookstores

Where the people paid

For wrapping paper, books and rental

Of best-sellers that made the grade.

We discovered Horne and Hardart

Where food was in the wall,

Who knew that one day money

From a wall would fall.

I had my first banana split

There were eggs and prunes galore,

Though we couldn’t afford to eat

Cheap swordfish was in the store.

We went to Central Park in snow

The sun shone  on the city,

We went to a dollar play reading

Of some playwright who was witty.

Those first days in New York were bliss

I truly fell in love

And New York still is to me

Like a dovecote to a dove!

Esther Lazarson: I was born in England and brought up on English Literature. Mother was born in Lithuania and loved Pushkin and poetry. She entered crossword competitions and consulted me about the words – which nearly always rhymed. “Is it cat or rat?” “Is it thunder or blunder?” When I was eleven, in class, I wrote the ballad of Robin Hood, and over the years wrote a few poems. On my 69^th birthday, as my dear friend Fred was volunteer gardening in Ward’s Island, I started to write poetry. I’m 89 now and I haven’t stopped.