Francis Duggan Poems

The Ballad of Reading Jail by Oscar Wilde is something worth the read
It is a poem of quality a major poem indeed
It's author was a famous man and he lives on in renown
And he spend some time as we well know in the Jail of Reading Town.
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He is not well known in his local pub
Or he is not a member of the football club
He likes a few beers though cigarettes he doesn't smoke
He is known what some do call your average bloke.
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The great Albert Namatjira a true Aussie great
One of Australian's first people a Nation celebrate
Arguably Australia's greatest artist that would be fair to say
And his legend is very much alive today,
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The Spring is in her prime now and the lovely marigold
Are blooming in the blackwood shade so lovely to behold
On a warm day in October close to thirty degrees
With the sun glowing in the blue sky and warmth in the breeze
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Killarney in Victoria a place that has a soul
The white waves on the sunlit beach how beautifully they roll
October at it's finest the sunshine in the sky
And the silver gulls are calling as above the waves they fly.
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The first of October a beautiful day
And in the blue sky just a few specks of gray
And sunshine on the Parkland and on the park trees
And the warmth of Spring is in the freshening breeze,
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To the local community he is not one of their own
And apart from them in every way he has grown
He does not share their interests of work, sports, small talk, drinking and football
In fact with them in common he has nothing at all.
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An email from the great Eugene Brosnan to me came as a huge surprise
I recall him when he was a youngster but back then did not realize
That he would become a renowned musician and singer songwriter and enjoy a Worldwide fame
Far from Millstreet and Murphy's Terrace his is now a very famed name.
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Tonight's a great night it is raining the first heavy rains of the Fall
The first heavy rains since last Winter the farmers rejoice one and all
The drought it may well not be over but 'tis good to hear the patter of the rain
Falling on the galvanize iron and gurgling down the shoot to the drain,
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Born in 1845 at Castletown Geoghegan Co Westmeath in 1870 after serving time in Mountjoy jail he died
Yet the mantle of greatness of him cannot be denied
Severe beatings from his British jailers the reason he died so young
But his most famous song 'The Rising Of The Moon' will forever be sung.
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