Francis Duggan Poems

He and his late wife Marion owned McCarthy's Bar in Millstreet Town Square for many years
And among family and friends his passing from life would not have gone without tears
Teddy O' Callaghan was a quiet man and kind in his own way
Quiet waters are deep as the wise are known to say
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In Wonthaggi a former coastal mining Town of South Gippsland there is no mining for coal today
The most of the Wonthaggi miners in the cemetery by Cameron Street lay
The men who led the miners strike in South Gippsland for better working conditions and pay
Made life better for all Australian coal miners they were men among men one can say
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Though many interesting people i have happened to meet
I have not known of success far south of Millstreet
But what is success one must ask anyway
It has many faces some are known to say
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In Nature the strongest and biggest wins the right to mate
And the loser is left to an uncertain fate
In the Human World the male with money wields the power
Money appeals more to most women than the gift of a beautiful flower
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On sunny days she often sits on the timber seat in the park by the street
One whose lovely smile always betrays the gap in her teeth
A woman in her late eighties with shoulder length hair of silver gray
She must have been quite beautiful back on her prime day
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Old memories live in me as a source of joy
Of where i grew to love Nature when i was a boy
In the fields west of Millstreet in view of Clara Hill
In my memory time does seem to stand still
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There are so many people not as lucky as me
At least anyhow this is how it seems to be
I could have been born as the child of a refugee
Or of poor parents who were living in dire poverty
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In her prime years her shoulder length hair like ripe chestnut was wavy and brown
In her twenties the beautiful young rose of old Terang Town
But in years this is going back some three decades ago
And time as we know becomes everyone's foe
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When it comes to news-makers he is always left out
As he does go unnoticed the man of self doubt
By feeling that he is never good enough
He makes life on himself one can say quite tough
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Of life there is one thing i can claim to know
That the karma we reap is the karma we sow
We eventually receive from life what is our due
What goes around comes around is ever true
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