Francis Duggan Poems

You may not be the popular one of the town
And even live as a stranger to local renown
But you are one of those who does give to receive
And on a fair go for all you do believe
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As for all other life forms the same for you and I
All of us humans are born to eventually die
We are only mortals but Nature lives on
And new life replaces those to time who have gone
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On a dark laneway by a disused factory doorway out of sight
Some mother's young daughter is dying tonight
Prostate on the cold hard concrete near her life's journey's end
From an overdose of narcotics alone without a rend
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Flowing through Duhallow on towards Mallow Town
Old River Blackwater in flood waters of brown
Swollen by streams and rivers from the higher ground
The countryside flooded for kilometers around
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For their love of home them I can only admire
To see other lands they do feel no desire
Beyond their homeplace or hometown no wish for to live elsewhere
Or even travel for awhile in the big World out there
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On the journey of life until the day we does die
There is more to the living of life than for the me, myself and I
Though sad for to say it is nothing new
That those who live for the self are not of the few
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Jean Hickey than me is a few years older I knew her long before she met and married Ted O Shea
And she went to live in Finnanefield in Kilcorney from Inchaleigh in Millstreet five or six miles away
I have not seen her for years but her I will remember until the reaper gives the call to me
Good people like her one does not wish to forget and she did not fade from my memory.
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He died in battle in World War 1 in Belloy En Santerre thousands of miles away
From his home city of New York in the U S of A
Like a true soldier under fire back in nineteen sixteen
In his twenty eight year and perhaps his better days he had not seen.
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In very late August in the dawn cold and gray
And the calendar Spring only two sleeps away
A blackbird is singing his fanfare to Spring
His distinctive song to hear is such a beautiful thing
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You may feel suicidal racked by inner strife
But why even contemplate on surrendering your life
The greatest gift that anyone does possess
Many who have lived through tough times have later known of success
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