Giovanni Poem by Francis Duggan

He talks about the people he never more will see
In his old fishing Village far north in Italy
Most of the mentors of his boyhood years with the departed lay
And he in his early sixties now showing his years in gray.

He came to live in Australia in nineteen sixty five
A young man with ambition on hard work he did thrive
He married an Australian she died two years ago
Their marriage brought one offspring the likeable one Joe.

His grandchildren are now teenagers and time keeps ticking on
But you will never hear him say that his better years are gone
In his not quite perfect English one often hear him say
Me would like to live forever for life suits me okay.

So far the saddest thing on his life journey was the death of Rose his wife
But Giovanni picked up the pieces and he got on with life
A generous and friendly fellow he always says hello
To everyone in his neighbourhood and those he does not even know.

I would like to live forever that is what Giovanni say
And in Gippsland in Victoria he will live his last day
And with his dearly departed wife his bones will forever lay
From his old fishing Village thousands of miles away.