Francis Duggan Poems

Flow on Finnow river down by Millstreet Town
The sound of your whisper the singing birds drown
In your crystal waters the little trout dream
And the fields all around you are peaceful and green.
...

I cut down trees in wood by Mushera mountain
Where in the snow the sheep of hunger died
In Winter 'twas a bleak and barren country
But Spring brought beauty to that mountain side.
...

'Twas Dathai Dowling found him or so I have been told
Up there in field by Clara hill his body yet not cold
And sad news travels quickly across the Countryside
And it was known for miles around how Jack the Mule had died.
...

We are living in an age when top sports people and top actors are grossly overpaid
And too much of those with celebrity status by the masses is made
We make small gods out of people who seem very ordinary
But having said that everyone is different and we see things differently.
...

There was a time when you called me darling but now that seems some while ago
And love has died between us and apart we've seemed to grow
You now have only eyes for someone else with me you do not have to stay
Of love and happiness for you I won't stand in your way.
...

Don't talk of war to Ruby or battles fought and won
In Vietnam in the late sixties she lost her only son
When he was only twenty the Vietcong killed her Dave
He was a noble young man and he died very brave.
...

The grey shrike thrush pipes in the sunshine on a branch of a silky oak tree
And on the beach I can hear the gulls calling from the road that leads down to the sea
On this beautiful evening in September as we near the prime of the Spring
The familiar song of the blackbird to it has an exquisite ring.
...

I had my daydreams as many do of great wealth and renown
Of making a name for myself far south of my Hometown
But of successes sad for me to you I cannot tell
I will end my days perhaps unsung as a man of doggerel.
...

A single mum she bought the house when her only child a girl was five about eight years ago
But that a latent killer was within it's walls she was not meant to know
A rodent gnawed through the wall board of her bedroom and the asbestos dust floated out
And the deadly stuff unbeknown to her was in her nostrils and her mouth.
...

That the colour of your money speaks all languages most people do believe
But if we sow the seeds of bad karma bad fruit we will receive
If on your way to financial success others out of money you did cheat
To karma you will have to pay the price of your deceit.
...