Francis Duggan Poems

I wish you'd only tell me that I look old and gray
That I am one of those blokes who has seen a better day
With a big smirk upon your face you say how young I look
To lie to you comes easy but I read you like a book.
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If you climb six steps of eighteen step ladder you don't have that far to fall
And you won't know great disappointment if your dreams are only small
And those who scaled the heights of success had to climb up all of the way
And many who have reached the summit at the summit could not stay.
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I come from a rural and working class background
Though in that group some feel I don't belong
And the literary dons shun me as a poetaster
Somewhere in life I must have got it wrong.
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Old digger Luke is feeling down and I often hear him say
It would not worry me at all were I to die today
Why should I fear the grim reaper after all I've been through
Since I fought in the trenches in Europe in World War 2.
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St Peter spoke he said to me ah well
So you are one of those who wrote all doggerel
Old Satan is tolling damnation's bell
You take the road downhill it leads to hell.
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In times of pre history many centuries ago
What century or date none alive seem to know
Ferdi the top warrior of Maeve Queen of Connacht battled with Fionn Mcool
A legend we learned of in our days in school
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In droughts and war ravaged Lands of famines and disease
Where the poor survivors become refugees
Future generations will struggle to cope
The poor of the future in Lands without hope
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That tattslotto win you've dreamed of who knows it might be near
And in your favourite local pub you'll buy your mates there beer
A night of celebrating you'll be the toast of the town
If lady luck is with you she will not let you down
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Though i do not know her personally her father and her aunt Hanna May i know
A phone call from Gillian Daly took me back to long ago
When with her father John Joe and others in the school-yard we played ball
My boyhood years in Millstreet till my last day I'll recall.
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In your inbox you click on an email that just has come in
To find out that you've had a big internet lotto win
You must tell your friends and you must celebrate
But a tiny voice in you tells you for to wait
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