Francis Duggan Poems

Above the slopes of Clara overlooking Claramore
The little plain brown skylark is carolling as he soar
His territorial melodies a small speck in the sky
And higher ever higher he carols as he fly.
...

The currawongs calling on the wooded hillside and water keeps on dripping from the trees
And it is a day of sleety showers and drizzle and signs of more rain in the freshening breeze
The sun behind heavy cloud cover hidden and the sky is looking overcast and gray
And on the wooded hills south east of Melbourne it is a typical mid Winter's day.
...

Dear Karen I'm writing to thank you for all that you have done for me
And your job is harder than most jobs are as many would tend to agree
You've encouraged me to do better of life I had started to tire
And I found you very inspiring and I'm a hard one to inspire.
...

I cannot claim to be a poet for poets I know are few
And as a doggerelist and a rhymer I'm somewhere between the two
And my literary efforts have not even reached the critics scan
So let me live and let me die an ordinary man.
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Goodbye Peter Reith and good riddance and not many for you will shed tears
You leave Parliament with a huge payout with far more than the price of a few beers
For the Coalition Government you were a headkicker and you won't be that hard to replace
A Federal Election is looming and defeat was staring you in the face.
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To those who advise me to give rhyming away
Since for doing it i never receive any pay
I thank them for their advice and to them then say
I hope to be rhyming on my life's final day
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When Annabelle Reen won the All Ireland for singing now that seems a long time ago
It must have been in the late fifties what year offhand can't say I know
But I recall the celebrations the bonfires blazed in Millstreet Town
For the lovely young girl with the sweet voice who had sung her way into renown.
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I love the sound of good old Irish music it takes me to the mountains far away
And it takes me to the station dance and ceili such things in Ireland doesn't happen today
For Ireland as a Land has gone through changes and nothing ever seems to stay the same
You won't find any Land that's not known changes at least there is not any I could name.
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That Nature is a great teacher in truth one can say
From her we do learn something new every day
And the more we learn of her the more we realize
That she is one who never ceases to surprise
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By the many materialism seem to impress
You are judged by your job and your postal address
By them you are judged more favourably by your career or the size of your car
Than the sort of person that you really are
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