Francis Duggan Poems

They tell me of this Paradise reserved for the just
And of how they love their God and in their God they trust
I argue God does not exist yet they come back for more
And each time in the neighbourhood they knock on my door.
...

He paid three hundred thousand dollars for her engagement ring
This strange thing called love is a marvellous thing
But don't ask me to shout out how great and hooray
When thousands are dying of the hunger each day.
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Joe Blow climbed to the summit of Mt Everest when he was twenty three
And swam in the Atlantic ocean from Greece to Italy
And in Northern Canada penned to the ground a full grown Kodiak bear
A legend in his own mind and men like him are rare.
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The old poetess feels tired of rhyme and of song
To a lost generation 'tis said she belong
By those who feel they know better the poets of our time
Those who look down on anyone who dare to pen rhyme.
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So many of my boyhood mentors to the Reaper have gone
But life in Duhallow as usual goes on
And people like the Seasons they come and they go
And old Araglen on to the Blackwater flow.
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We returned the Government to power since we are doing okay
We canvassed for and voted for them on the Election Day
With them in power we genuinely feel our future is more secure
Us middle class are not to blame for the increasing poor.
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'Tis said by some that poets are born and poets cannot be made
Whilst others say that anyone can learn the wordsmith trade
And good poets come and good poets go but their words will live on
And their poems will be read and loved long after they are gone.
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I know one in his early forties he says I'm from The Land of the Free
But nothing else I know about him or what might be his Nationality
Since he speaks with a cosmopolitan accent to any Land he might belong
I could guess what Country he comes from but then my guess may well be wrong.
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John Coleman is a healer he hails from Dublin Town
And in The Dandenong Ranges of Victoria he has earned his renown
For helping unhealthy people to a better state of health
His motto a good constitution better to you than wealth.
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Overlooking Duhallow and Sliabh Luachra and overlooking Millstreet Town
How often in my younger years I remember I often climbed to Clara's Cross and ran all the way down
Through the high fields of Claramore and Claraghatlea but back then I was in my prime
And I too have grown that much slower my master is old father time.
...