Francis Duggan Poems

I had my daydreams as many do of great wealth and renown
Of making a name for myself far south of my Hometown
But of successes sad for me to you I cannot tell
I will end my days perhaps unsung as a man of doggerel.
...

Though I have drunk old Tubrid's sparkling waters
And prayed at the small shrine by Tubrid Well
It hasn't made me a successful person
And it won't save me from the flames of hell.
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He is a stranger in the Town and him you do not know
And because he looks darker than you direspect for him you show
His skin may be as black as coal but his soul may be white
And your soul full of darkness like the darkened skies of night.
...

You feel your contribution for the advancement of Humankind to much does not amount
But every positive word you speak for the common good does count
One tiny voice can grow to a roar and one can grow to a crowd
You speak on behalf of the underdog for that you should feel proud.
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Some like to think that your past is gone forever
But your memories good or bad won't fade away
And green of Spring to the young eyes look greener
And our sense of wonderment grow less with every day.
...

On a stringybark in a flat paddock I can hear the pale eyed crow
Cawing in the early morning near where the Tarwin waters flow
On towards the great Pacific it slowly winds it's way
By the narrow road to Tarwin Lower that end up at Venus Bay.
...

The Summer wet and not much sun and half the hay crop rotten
But Con the Master said next Spring all this will be forgotten
And Winter months were not too harsh and Spring was quick to follow
And cattle early out to grass in all parts of Duhallow.
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I still recall a memory from my childhood
Long years ago and many miles away
The robin on the flowering hawthorn singing
And the high fields wore their wildflowers of the May.
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A single mum she bought the house when her only child a girl was five about eight years ago
But that a latent killer was within it's walls she was not meant to know
A rodent gnawed through the wall board of her bedroom and the asbestos dust floated out
And the deadly stuff unbeknown to her was in her nostrils and her mouth.
...

That the colour of your money speaks all languages most people do believe
But if we sow the seeds of bad karma bad fruit we will receive
If on your way to financial success others out of money you did cheat
To karma you will have to pay the price of your deceit.
...