Francis Duggan Poems

A booming economy Government spokes people say
And things looking better with each passing day
And you keep voting for us and you will be okay
Such are the games that politicians do play
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Crow sized white cockatoos and not seen everywhere
Though in the Southern Grampians they do not seem rare
With long down curved bills for digging for food in the ground
The calls that they utter not a pleasant sound
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Through fields and by ditches and by many a hedgerow
The Araglen down to the Blackwater flow
And on a tall beech tree the grey hooded crow
Is uttering his loud caw that is repetitive and slow.
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Some of them are not now with the living and some of them live distant from me
But them i will always remember the people i will never more see
Some of them i did not get on with we did look at life differently
But like my friends them i remember and like my friends they remain in my memory,
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Germaine Greer calls it as she sees it and public scorn she does not fear
She is a huge loss to Australia her thinking uncluttered and clear
She tells the truth as she does see it and her truth is not a popular thing
She doesn't laud legends or heroes and her praises few bother to sing.
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I feel happy to be with Nature alone in the wood by the hill
When the white backed magpie on the tall gum he opens his sivery bill
And pipes his own natural music so beautiful free flowing and clear
His wonderful song it is timeless and something quite pleasant to hear,
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I said my better rhyming days are gone
But he urged me to keep on penning on
You may be many years beyond your prime
But you are never too old for to rhyme
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So much to love about in Nature and every day something new we see
Though little i seem to know of her for her secrets she hides from me
But now and then i get a quick glimpse into her beautiful soul
When she is calm and in a relaxed mood and her stronger feelings are under control.
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In Ballarat in lake of Wendouree
So many water birds at all times one does see
The musk duck and the black duck and moorhen
Live in small family groups of four to ten
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The first Russian World heavyweight champion and surely a giant of a man
Taller and heavier than even Primo Carnera and the pride of his race and his clan
His name is Nikolai Valuev a boxer managed by the renowned Don King
He remains undefeated as a professional boxer and his praises we ought to sing.
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