The Great Survivors Poem by Francis Duggan

Where other creatures cannot live the rabbits seem to thrive
And though man wage war against them they somehow still survive
They are prolific breeders and they quickly Multiply
And man has failed to bring about their demise though hard he seemed to try.

I recall in the fifties when I was a young boy
In fields around my old home in their thousands they did die
Their heads and eyes all swollen a sight not meant to please
From the Myxomatosis a terrible disease.

'Twas said against the Myxo that they would not last long
But the hardy little lagomorphs proved all of their critics wrong
For the rabbits as a species do not have a time span
And they might live forever and well might outlive man.

In the late nineties at the introduction of the Clavixal Virus by many it was said
That extinction for the wild bunnies lay only a few weeks ahead
But true to their survival skills you still will see a few
Strong and healthy looking rabbits where Clavixal has been through.

When I was a young fellow I still remember well
In the burrows by the hedgerows of death and decay the smell
And the rabbits doomed forever that's what many did say
But the furry great survivors are still around today.