Francis Duggan Poems

'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.
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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,
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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.
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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.
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Had I a Fairy Godmother and if she came to me
And said I'll grant to you two favours what might those favours be?
I'd ask that I'd feel happy and live my life carefree
And my second wish a small cottage that overlook the sea.
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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.
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There is a Village idiot in every little town
A poor not too with it fellow for others to put down
Some people find it enjoyable to others to be cruel
A fair go for all to all never applies in a town where bullies rule
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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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You cannot like everyone that you come to know
For every twenty friends you have perhaps you have one foe
Though you may be a good person honest and kind
An enemy or two on your life's journey you'll find
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The long drought is over some weather experts believe
But weather patterns the experts have been known to deceive
In parts of the Country huge flooding the weather seems strange
But then we are in the age of climate change
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