Francis Duggan Poems

What are the marks of a good patriot why ask me I hardly would know
I never did fight in a war zone or have a war medal to show
That I am a very brave fellow courage I displayed under fire
But if that what it takes to be a good patriot to such I do never aspire.
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Ageing Bella in the house at the corner outdoors she is not often seen
She was a potential swimming Olympian till a motoring accident she had at eighteen
Brought an end to her swimming career back in ninteen seventy three
And condemned her to life in a wheelchair she does deserve great sympathy.
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Are we any different to other creatures we are born and grow old and die
My next door neighbour's border collie seems no less a mortal than I
Well anyway that's how I see it though most with me would disagree
But everyone has their opinion and we all look at life differently
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What do they matter my opinions mine is just one point of view
I cannot hope to change the World in that I'm not one of a few
I will never be a ruler nor others I do not wish to lead
Many would count me as a failure one who has failed to succeed
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For many the struggle is just to survive
And many feel lucky just to be alive
In Burma from a recent cyclone thousands of people have died
By Nature the breath of life of them denied.
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Feel grateful to our Earth mother for at least we should feel aware
That without her we could not exist of us she takes good care
We pollute her sky and waterways and remove trees from her land
Yet what we do to her to ourselves we do many of us don't seem to understand
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I think of them often my friends far away
The people I've not seen for many a day
Some of them with the departed now lay
Time does not wait for us or respect to us pay.
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Where is little Kiki she lived on our street
As lovely a person as one would wish to meet
With curly dark hair and with lovely brown eyes
In her early twenties yet in Worldly ways wise
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Old Claraghatlea I have not seen for some-while
And between here and there many a sea and land mile
'Tis there the life journey for me it began
For 'tis there I was born and grew into a man.
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Of Nature I always feel inspired to write
Of wild and timid creatures and creatures that bite
And in Nature there's many a beautiful sight
Like butterflies flying in the warm sunlight.
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