Francis Duggan Poems

Far south of Hibernia's wild windswept shore
And even further south of the Millstreet roadway to Rathmore
In the town park the black and white magpies of bills silver gray
Are singing in the bright and warm sunshine today
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For success in life most people with others compete
To be best in your neighborhood and best on your street
To work your way up to become the best in the town
On your hoped for journey to Worldwide renown
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From the foot of Mt Baw Baw by night and by day
Through Melbourne City the Yarra crawls on it's way
An old water-way even in the Dreamtime
The inspiration of song and story and rhyme
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The seasons to our lives do come and do go
And eventually time becomes everyone's foe
Three score and ten years the average human life span
And a few years more for a woman than it is for a man
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From Nature i learn something new every day
In life one never stops learning it does seem this way
One gets to know birds by their chirps and their song
But in bird recognition by voice i have often been proven wrong
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The voices of the 'You Hear This Group' for me far too loud
The people of their life's achievements who seem far too proud
Of their own and their friends life's successes they do like to tell
On the achievements of self and family and friends they sure love to dwell
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It is something you may have heard me say before
I write rhymes for enjoyment that and nothing more
I add to my growing numbers of them every day
If i did not enjoy rhyming i would give it away
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Michael Casey lived in Tooreenbawn all of his life
And there he raised his family with Margaret his deceased wife
It is so sad to learn that from life he has passed away
That in the old Millstreet cemetery at the West End his last remains now lay
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To be a great writer her claim to renown
A very talented woman the poet of the town
Though well into her eighties loved and widely known
One might say of her in a class of her own
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From village to town in their Romany horse drawn vans
They traveled on the by roads the Irish traveling clans
People who were not restricted by borders or range
But the late nineteen fifties to their way of life brought great change
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