Francis Duggan Poems

If I should die tomorrow I've had a happy life
Never had a major accident and never known heartbreak
Never known what it's like to be really hungry and lady luck's been kind to me
And every morning after six as a free man I awake
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When your Country's sport stars take the field you wave the National flag
And of your Country's greatness you never cease to brag
And the praises of your Nation's heroes you never fail to sing
Though too much patriotism can be a dangerous thing.
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His years he is physically showing he walks with the aid of a walking cane
But otherwise he's very lucid and there's nothing wrong with his brain
He is up to date with the news headlines and he is well versed on current affairs
And he is one to count his blessings he says than me others have far more cares.
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A poet lived in this Town a century ago
Not one of the major literary figures say those who feel they know
About poets and poetry they believe they are never wrong
About verse and true poetry and doggerel and song.
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She has about her such a happy way
I hear her hearty laughter every day
And with a cheery hello me she greet
The woman in the house across the street.
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On the sand dunes at Powlett river in the dead of the night
Dark shadows are moving in the faint moonlight
The Ghosts of the Bunurong dance their Corroborees
In a circle they jig to the music of the breeze.
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Eddy and Delia Murphy still breeding and racing greyhounds their dogs Ballydaly's best
And their speedsters not found wanting when they are put to the test
Still winning races at the Cork track and as greyhound handlers their reputations grow
Their Ballydaly dogs have been winning open and graded races
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Old Garry doesn't seem to mind the tag of the Poetaster the
Local Laureate of Doggerel
And he doesn't give credence to the hereafter condemned forever to the Poetasters Hell
For he will tell you there is nothing out there that there isn''t any life beyond the grave
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He brought to his friend a bouquet of roses on St Valentine's Day
Which did not please the neighbours in whispers they did say
That a man should give another man a gift of flowers is against all Natural law
Such narrow minded people their own conclusions draw
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On a warm evening on the second day of July
As I walked through the high grass upwards a bird did fly
A bantam sized mottled brown bird with low and short quick flight
Beyond the hedge she disappeared from sight.
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