Francis Duggan Sleep Poems

He does not sleep that well at night though his troubles are small
The possums walking on his roof the rats squeak in the wall,
The boobook owl is crying mopoke on the trees across the way
He used to sleep without once waking till after break of day.
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I just want to die all alone whilst I sleep
With no one near my bed to grieve and to weep
Don't waste your prayers on me for your own souls pray
Leave my remains with Nature that will be okay.
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In the darkness of the morning just before the dawn of day
The kookaburra calling in the wood across the way
In his loud and raucous laughter he proclaims his territory
'Do not venture near my border keep away from my gum tree'.
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