Francis Duggan Poems

It was Neilly Flynn who told me 'it's a hungry belly game'
There's no money in verse writing you may not even win fame
At that time I had ambition and I chose to disagree
But now I know how right he was when his words come back to me.
...

Back there between Millstreet and Ballydaly
Where the Cails winds it's way through Annagloor
I've spent some happy times there I remember
And since I've left that place in some ways I've grown poor.
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He only lives for work and drinking for these are his passions in life
And when he goes home from the local he argues with Betty his wife
She no longer cooks him his supper she tells him you can help yourself
In the fridge you'll find eggs and bacon and there's coffee
...

On the mountain ash the woodland giants the pied currawong call
And Sherbrooke hasn't changed in years it hasn't changed at all
And though known as Yarra Ranges now the place still looks the same
For you don't change the look of the countryside when you give it a new name.
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She went to Dublin in the late sixties off hand can't say what year
For to live with her only child her daughter Peg O Deere
And still her happy laughter comes to me from long ago
The heart and soul of Claraghatlea kindhearted Mary O.
...

Frost and sleety rain and snow
And cold the wintery winds do blow
Leafless trees and hedgerows bare
And signs of Winter everywhere.
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Some influentials seem to think trees should not grow in town
And to build motor race track in the park they cut the tall trees down
The minority who care come to protest angered at what they see
But their protests won't be in vain if they can save one tree.
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I once had greyhounds many years ago
But I grew poorer as my dogs ran slow
My losers many and my winners few
And I cut my losses what else might I do? .
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I've heard the news this morning and it came as no surprise
Of how the Irish poet Seamus Heaney had won the Nobel Prize
His place assured in literature along with other greats
With Beckett, Joyce and Kipling and Oscar Wilde and Yeats.
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Craig Harding doesn't have an easy life
He works hard by day and at night Lindy his wife
Is out with her friend Jacqueline playing net ball
Whilst he minds the children and stares at the wall.
...