Francis Duggan Freedom Poems

Many look on what constitutes freedom one might say differently
What seems free to you may not seem free to me
To be ruled by your own people to you as freedom does count
But in the true meaning of freedom that to little amount.
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They have brought Saddam to justice and handed freedom back
Or at least that is what you tell me to the people of Iraq
But i always thought that freedom included freedom to live free of fear
Whilst every day from Iraq of more deaths through violence we do hear.
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Those who target and maim and kill civilians are not freedom fighters
We ought to make that one straight
They are only misguided lunatics
Who are possessed by mistrust and hate
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'My fight for Irish freedom' the autobiography of Dan Breen
But perhaps he should have called his book 'When young blood stained the green'
For human blood for freedom too huge a price to pay
And liberty or freedom define it anyway.
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To want freedom and justice for his people was Mandela's only crime
And his freedom taken from him and in jail he spent his prime
But the first democratically elected President of South Africa not one to hold a grudge
His former oppressors he's forgiven he does not condemn or judge.
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I cannot weep for the martyrs of nineteen sixteen
Or the heroes who died for wearing of the green
The enemy of the past is no longer the foe
And all of this happened a long time ago
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'Tis not about your Country's Government or your National flag
Though these things you may feel are well worthy of a brag
Though patriotism and true freedom in distance far apart
As reality is from an affair of the heart
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Many of those who fought for freedom they died so very young
Their lives 'twould seem were wasted though their praises are sung
Yes 'twould seem their lives were wasted alas they died in vain
For even in democratic Countries many aspects of lack of freedom do remain
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On what constitutes freedom we do not agree
For what is freedom to you is not freedom to me
That Countries should have borders you see as okay
But I look at that in a different way
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Mentally unbalanced people that does seem very clear
It gives them a false sense of power to know others them do fear
They insult the name of freedom fighters those with honour to their name
To kill people deliberately is always an act of shame
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My heart goes to those who grieve for their war dead in war torn Iraq
Life when it is taken cannot be given back
Those who started this war from Iraq may live far away
But to Karma they do have a huge price to pay
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'Tis of my own choice that I live far away
From where I was raised and first saw light of day
But not every migrant as lucky as me
So spare a thought for every poor refugee.
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Many fight and die for freedom but it does seem to me
For any one of us not a guarantee
At death at the hands of our own kind by bomb, bullet or knife
Just a basic human freedom known as right to life.
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If this is what freedom is about who would wish to be free
When only of war dead we read and hear about and pictures of death we see
Mothers grieving for their dead children in Iraq their heartbreak with them will stay
Until the Reaper claim them though for them 'twill be a happy day.
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Freedom is a thing you can't impose
By bomb or bullet or at the point of the gun
A Government led by a Dictator foreign powers may over-throw
But freedom for the people in that way can't be won
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