Francis Duggan Poems

Young man why go to war live for as long as you can
A dead young brave soldier not as great as a living cowardly old man
The famous dead people though they live in renown
Are no better than the other dead of the town
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Many people the praises of warriors do sing
And they talk of war as if war is a good thing
There are tears in their eyes when the last post is played
And proudly they march in every war parade
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The women of the World as people they are great
They give birth to the children and in so doing life create
In every woman ever born a nurturing soul you'll find
The mothers and the aunties a credit to Humankind.
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Where ever we go to our past seems to follow
Our past follows us to where ever we go
In my flights of fancy the Finnow is babbling
As through the old fields of Millstreet it does flow.
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In a grove nearby a blackbird is singing his pleasant music melodious and clear
In his backyard in the Spring sunshine Novak a familiar voice is happy to hear
As a young person near the City of Subotica on evenings in the Northern Spring
The yellow billed male blackbirds in the sunshine in groves and on hedgerows did sing
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The more that I learn about Nature the less of her I know that I know
And the more that I learn of Nature the more my wonder of her does grow
One can only live in awe of her wonders she does seem amazing to me
Scarce a day goes by that in Nature a new wonder one does not see
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What others say of me can't say I much care
Since of my own shortcomings I am all too aware
But when speaking of me of me do not lie
Since you would not like lies to be spread about you neither would I.
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You boasted of Cromwell's renown
Of how he put the Irish down
Of how he tamed a Sister Land
And English respect did command.
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The men with guns and dogs on sunday are hunting sambar deer
And the loud cracks of their rifles on the high woodlands I hear
And then the hills are silent and the only living sound
Is the magpie piping on stringybark upon the higher ground.
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She married him for his money though he was older and gray
And for six years of marriage to her a half a million to her he had to pay
I never felt any love or passion for him to her friends she often say
And he was quite useless as a lover and quite boring anyway.
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