Francis Duggan Poems

It is true that a rhymer never runs out of rhyme
Even in their twilight years decades beyond their physical prime
They keep writing rhymes till their last night and day
A true rhymer never does give rhyming away
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Old Dave who on his last birthday turned eighty three
Says he is not the man that he once used to be
Sixty years ago he kicked the winning goal on Grand Final Day
But people grow older and time ticks away
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Some of those i went to school with in Millstreet did stay
And some from there living in Lands far away
And some of them amongst the deceased do lay
All human life is terminal as the wise one does say
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When others to your face only nice things do say
With their praises you ought not get carried away
Since few to your face ever say what they think of you
Their words to their thinking are not always true
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In human successes in medicine, science and technology a reason for some pride
But in the name of progress the natural environment is being destroyed
What we do to our Earth Mother to our own selves we do
I may have caused environmental damage but then so too have you
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In the school-yard in the lunch break childhood games we did play
Though this is going back in time many a day
We were young and innocent but as young and innocent did not stay
And that we grew up too quickly now seems sad to say
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I am lucky in where i do live i must say
In the beautiful scenery i see every day
The birds who do sing every day of the year
The magpies i often do see and do hear
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Due to habitat destruction and Climate change wild birds and wild animals becoming rare
And in a time when we are badly in need of the environmentally aware
The friends of our Earth Mother in numbers too few
On this i am not saying anything that is new
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The bug of the wander it had bitten me
Beyond Clara Mountain there were places for to see
The Boggeragh hills in their white hats of snow
And Finnow in brown flood waters bank high in the old fields did flow
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For it's World known footrace it has won renown
But it is it's people make Stawell such a welcoming Town
As hospitable a people as i have ever known
They greet every stranger in Stawell as one of their own
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