Francis Duggan Poems

Above the brown mountain bogland skylark carols in the sky
And the soft piping of the curlew is always a thing of great joy
Spring is approaching the old Land closer with each passing day
And the wild birds will be nesting in March and April and May.
...

She is married to Prince Frederik of Denmark something of which most can only dream
But a princess by birth or inheritance is a princess or so it would seem
But I'm one who doesn't believe in royalty and about that I've always been frank
Since royalty stands for class distinction and I hate the snobbery of rank.
...

I'm one of those under achievers at least that's the tag put on me
By those who measure the worth of people the faceless that we never see
Those who promote rank and class distinction and condone the social divide
Those who by their pigeon holing of people the dream of an Earthly Utopia have destroyed.
...

Have you ever felt so tired as you struggle out of bed
And switch off the alarm clock with a throbbing in your head
At five thirty in the morning as dawn's lamp brighten the sky
And the fluting of the butcherbird to you is not a thing of joy.
...

It is the last day of the Summer and close to if not thirty degrees
The sunny sky is blue and cloudless and there's warmth in the gentle breeze
The cat in the shade she is resting out of the sunlight she finds ease
And in the silence of early evening birds don't sing or chirp on the sunlit trees.
...

Some say my thinking is awry and some say I'm not right in the head
Since I don't look up to old soldiers and weep at the graves of the dead
Since I don't look up to my so called betters since a crook is a crook that's for sure
The most of crooks they are quite wealthy and not many of the dishonest are poor.
...

Words can make you happy or cause you mental pain
And the hurt of words said with the hurted remain
For more than a month or for more than a year
Some words said about us may be best not to hear.
...

A hero in Britain his praises they sing
But then suppose one person's villian is another one's king
By him thousands of young Irish soldiers were left down
They fought and they died in their war for the Crown.
...

The Finnow flows to the Blackwater through places damp, rushy and green
And memories of what was are fading and I think of the beauty I've seen
When Spring arrived in her new green dress like a beautiful young beauty queen
And white snowdrops bloomed in their thousands on the mossy bank of the bohreen.
...

A plump and round faced woman in her early forties with shoulder length brown hair that's turning gray
The best loved person in the neighbourhood the happy go lucky Rosy May
Her husband is Bert they have three school going children two girls and a younger boy
A very happy family and the gift of life they do seem to enjoy.
...