Francis Duggan Poems

Dear friends of the past a good friendship we've known
But apart from each other 'twould seem we have grown
We shared much in common but not any more
Since a different future for us was in store.
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I do not fear big cats or snakes or dangerous crocodile
Between where I live and they live are many a mile
Those I fear the most to me live very near
'Tis only my own species I need to fear.
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I've never been a soldier or fought in a war
And though from my old Hometown I have travelled far
I have never grown wealthy and never known fame
And I feel happy that few even know me by name.
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The beauty of Nature is all around me
The wattlebirds call on the blossoming tree
The kangaroos in the bright sunshine of day
Amongst the rank rushes are hidden away
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Goodbye to friends and family is never easy to say
To those you may not see again for many a day
You are bound for a place that is far away
Your mood matches the weather the sky is gloomy gray,
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Some of them with the departed and the others growing old and gray
Those that I went to school with in the long gone yesterday
From the boys and girls I went to school with many years before I reached my prime
I am separated by distance and by long years of time.
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You've travelled the miles from your old home
You have been to London and Paris and Rome
You have been to South America Argentina and Brazil
Still you miss your friends in the Vale by the hill.
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I've never been short listed for a literary prize
Which after all is not any surprise
Since I cannot make a living from my pen
I'm one of the group of the would be literary men.
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I always have loved Mother Nature ever since I was a boy
And a thing of Natural beauty is always a thing of joy
And the mysteries of Nature is a mysterious thing
There is far more to any bird than the song it does sing
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His old Shire from the City a three hours drive and nostalgia can be a strange thing
For he miss the wide brown paddocks where the brown singing bushlark sing
He is doing his best to settle in to life in the big Town
Where all day and night on the busy street traffic buzz up and down
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