Francis Duggan Funeral Poems

The funeral bell is ringing a reminder of our mortality
Farewelling a deceased soul one day 'twill ring for me
Ringing in the stillness of this cool Autumn day
Across the rural city in the morning damp and gray.
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The funeral birds known to some as whilst others do call them weerloo
But the name they are known to by many is the yellow tail black cockatoo
They live mostly on the dark seeds of the pine cones that they shred with their strong thick bills
Their familiar wee yu calls unmistakeable as they fly above the wooded hills
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The tolling of a funeral bell in the chapel near
A reminder to me what is obviously clear
That someone is being driven on their last journey today
And that her or his lot will be my lot life works in this way
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The funeral bell is tolling in the church belfry to where i am standing near
But the person it tolls for it's slow tolling does not hear
In the not distant future whenever that may be
A similar bell will be tolling for me
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The funeral bell i heard tolling today will one day toll for me
Someday in the future whenever that will be
Perhaps not the same bell but some bell for me will toll
And someone may even whisper God's mercy on his soul
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Felix Meagher playing his fiddle at the grave of Dennis O' Keeffe a sad sight sight to see
At least anyway this is how it seemed to me
His way of farewelling his musician friend
Whose journey in life had come to an end
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I can hear the funeral bell tolling in the church across the way
Calling in the family and friends of the deceased one for to pray
For the soul of the departed though what happens to the soul
When life's last breath we have taken would seem beyond our control,
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The twenty ninth day of June 05 we will remember it was such a beautiful day
At Bayswater church and Yarra Glen cemetery we said our goodbyes to Sean Fay
A Winter sun shone in the blue sky in the Church yard a lone bag piper played 'Amazing Grace'
For a friend who had left us forever his was a known and well loved face.
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