Francis Duggan Poems

The stressed mother donkey she brayed to her foal
The poor creature was stuck in a muddy hole
But the more that she struggled the more she got stuck
And she needed help and a good deal of luck.
...

Respect to Australia's migrant people he did show
And he was a good person as politicians do go
From the cares that go with living he has found a release
AL Grassby is gone and may he rest in peace.
...

Out there where the bones of the black hunters lay
Through the flat and brown paddocks the creek babbles it's way
On towards the big river that flows to the sea
This old Land has such a brief white history.
...

Get rid of the war planes, the bombs and the guns
That deprive mothers of their daughters and sons
Without them the World would be a safer place to live in
For in the wars we won't have everybody will win.
...

He was a marvellous wordsmith with words he did have a way
Wise people say poets are born and not made and I agree with what they do say
His poems are not esoteric though of words he had a great command
That his words bring joy to so many is not hard to understand.
...

The bells of St Peter's ring of joy and hope
Telling the Roman Catholic World that we have a Pope
And Joseph Ratzinger 'Benedict the sixteenth' came to the window overlooking St Peter's Square
And blessed the one hundred thousand cheering people assembled there.
...

People I knew from years ago are sick and dying which truly saddens me
But that to me a reminder of my own mortality
The clock on my life is ticking as it ticks for everyone
And I won't be remembered for the things I've said and done
...

Though some people I've told they've said to me to such places people go to for to die
We are going to the distant Village the cat and the old Dear and I
A Village surrounded by brown paddocks with the smell and the bleatings of sheep
We are going there for only one reason the houses to buy there are cheap.
...

Are you such a clean living person are you really one without taint?
To others you feel so superior though surely you are not a saint
You cast your aspersions on others 'tis not hard to put others down
These people are trying to do their best and they too have to live in this Town.
...

Just like their blue eyed ancestors from Normandy in France
The Scottish love a hearty laugh and they love to sing and dance
And the Scottish are a happy lot and a good natured Race
And the ups and downs of living life they are known to embrace.
...