Francis Duggan Poems

True heroes are not sportsmen or sportswomen though some with that would not agree
And true heroes are not wealthy power brokers with a strong sense of I, myself and me,
'No' true heroes are the under class battlers whose battle is against the odds
The poor and the forgotten fringe dwellers and the people frowned on by the Gods.
...

Just a week from the start of the winter and more than three months from the Spring
Yet on the powerlines on the roadside I hear a male goldfinch sing
In the last days of the Autumn on this sunny morning in May
His kin birds now sing in woods and on hedgerows in the Northlands far away.
...

For to defeat terrorism one do not wage war on terror for terrorists do not respect man made laws
Since the only way that terror can be defeated is for Governments to attack it's root cause
And that is not to shoot and bomb and murder for terror is caused by inequality
For the war on terror ought to be more friendly a benign war on man made poverty.
...

Tom Kettle was a poet and a soldier he fell in Ginchy in nineteen sixteen
In his mid thirties he was quite a hero and though not big in the Irish literary scene
He is one who will ever be remembered the history of his life is living on
His poem to his young daughter is a beauty and he is not forgotten though long gone.
...

The myth of immortality by proof has been destroyed
The most influential people we have known about have died
Once the World's greatest army was led by Genghis Khan
Until the reaper claimed him he was a mortal man.
...

He sat by the campfire the old travelling man reciting a very old lay
His eyes were as brown as a ripe Autumn nut and his straggly hair silvery gray
A wrinkled old fellow he seemed the worst for wear with wrinkles on his hands and face
He travelled with his family in his horse drawn van and he had been to many a place.
...

'Tis said that only humans have been blessed with a soul
And we refer to them as dumb creatures the dog and bird and cat and foal
But heaven without birds, fish, insects and animals would seem a lonely place
No young lambs in the Springtime in sunlit fields to sport and race.
...

Though you are a person I greatly admire
To your standard of greatness I do not aspire
For by my ability I'm limited or so it does seem
Though of renown in my younger days I used to dream.
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Without song and dance and music how boring life would be
From the cares of life these three can set the heart free
The music inspires people to dance and song
And you with the sad face you can sing along,
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The sun it grows warmer as the temperatures rise
And the air it is full of the buzzing of flies
The creek it is empty the roadside drain is bone dry
And in the distance the smoke of the bush fire billows to the sky,
...