Old Marco Poem by Francis Duggan

The nest building birds sing and whistle today
In his first home-place from here far away
Where the cattle on lush grass chewing their cuds lay
And the hawthorns are cloaked in their white blooms of the May
Old Marco from Croatia his hair silver gray
His best years behind him of him it would seem fair to say
In his early eighties it has been a long time
Since he was a strong young man in his life prime
When he married Ella the love of his life
The mother of his son and daughter and his devoted wife
For fifty two years till the day that she breathed her last
Our saddest memories can be of our happiest days of the past
Today in his first home-place in Croatia the nesting birds sing
On a beautiful morning in May in the Spring.