Every Dog Has His Day Poem by Francis Duggan

Back there in the late sixties when I was in my prime
A few years maybe three or four before I discovered rhyme
I recall an old man bent from toil the years had made him gray
Saying make the most of your young years 'every dog has his day'.

Such pearls of wisdom find their way into our memory
And on looking back the years of time his words return to me
And like the dog I had my day but I wasted my prime
And now I wish I only could turn back the hands of time.

Some thirty nine years have gone by since I was twenty two
And I had dreams but dreams are dreams and dreams seldom come true
I had my chances of success but I left them go by
And I am one who cannot say that I gave it my best try.

Some with less chances than I have had are millionaires today
And it is true where there's a will there always is a way
And the well to do and the high achievers others wish to know
I too had my chances I recall but that was years ago.

The old man gray and bent from toil has long lain with the dead
But despite time's passage I recall what to me he once said
That 'every dog he has his day' to all those words apply
And I too had my chances of success but I left them go by.