Where Nobody Cares If I Was Poem by Francis Duggan

Where nobody cares if i was dunce of the primary school
Far north of the City of old Warrnambool
Or of where i used to live when my hair was dark brown
In Claraghatlea less than two kilometers from Millstreet Town

Or if i am a fellow who pens doggerel
Without any literary success of to tell
Where i am a stranger and an almost unknown
They will never look on me as one of their own

Of how long i will live here or of how long i will live is not for me to say
Only know the clock on my life does keep ticking away
Or of what happens to my remains when i have lived my last night and day
Only know i have earned my wrinkles and gray

I used to daydream that i might be a poet
A person deemed to be worthy of literary note
But daydreams as is said do seldom come true
Suppose from life we receive what is only our due

Suppose a stranger as such is the best i can be
Where nobody cares or spends one thought on me
Or if i was the dunce of the primary school
Far north of the City of old Warrnambool.