Francis Duggan Poems

She was born and raised as Margaret Buckley in Kippagh in Ballydaly from Millstreet Town some three miles of roadway
In marriage she was known as Margaret Daly and in Clonfert in Duhallow her last remains does lay
I know she had two brothers and two sisters The Buckleys left Kippagh many decades ago
All we have left of the past are our memories and time does become everybody's foe
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Her husband left her to raise their children not a task any woman would enjoy
Two girls of seven and eight and a six year old boy
Whilst her ex husband lives with and makes love to another woman in a bigger town miles away
She has to work to make ends meet for food to buy and bills to pay
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This idea of being self sufficient is like trying to make a phone call on a disconnected phone
Since most people cannot live for self alone
Like people with children to educate their children on school teachers depend
And the World's saddest person is the one who does not have one friend
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I only can hope i have not seen my last Spring
The great gift of life is a wonderful thing
I want to live on for as long as i can
And die in my sleep without pain as a very old man
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The power to change the World is in your mind
If you can live as a person good and kind
And from one in need of helping never turn away
The Human World better for you living in it does seem fair to say
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The life i live quite ordinary does lack in any glitter
But i feel happy with my lot i have no cause to feel bitter
Since millions are worse off than me and living it far tougher
Without a home and on the street can life be any rougher?
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It has been the inspiration of many a song
And to the people of all ages it does belong
The poets write poems of it for the singers to sing
The great gift of love is a wonderful thing
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I meet them quite often though not every day
Though when we meet to each other we have little to say
And they are quite good people of that i am aware
Though in common with them i have little to share
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People and their stories i have been listening to for years
Of their times of laughter and their times of tears
Of their children and grandchildren and their husbands and wives
And the things that are important to them in their lives
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I tell anyone who asks me where i am from that i am from Millstreet
From old Claraghatlea where the rivers do meet
Far north of this Land even as the bird does fly
Perhaps fourteen thousand miles or more by sky
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