Francis Duggan Poems

The wattlebirds kept busy all the day
From flowering gum trees chasing them away
But wattlebirds though big are not so fleet
And they can't catch purple crowned lorikeet.
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In January in nineteen twenty one more than eighty years ago
When the hills of Duhallow and Sliabh Luachra wore their white hats of snow
Near the Cork border in east Kerry Sean Moylan and his freedom fighting men
Shot to death a Tan Soldier and an R I C commander at Tureengarriffe glen.
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The sooty oystercatchers pipe o'er the waves at Inverloch
But i can't write about it for i have writer's block
And i can't write about it for i can't feel inspired
Today my soul feels weary and i feel a little tired.
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It was on a bleak December a cold and wintery day
And the fields around the old home were looking frosty gray
And darkening clouds in sunless sky told sleet or rain was near
And i said farewell to Millstreet and places i loved dear.
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Back home in Nova Scotia now the eastern bluebird sing
And wildering flowers are in full bloom in latter days of Spring
And green woods scenting sweetly with the buds and blooms of May
And I feel very near to home though I live far away.
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Patriotic men and women from sixty down to sixteen
Rode proudly on their horses in the famed Anzac green
Followed by the women of the Red Cross in their renowned white and red
On this day every April they honour the war dead.
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There was a man named Aoghan O Rathaille
And he lived by the immortal Paps of Shrone
The first great Gaelic Bard of Sliabh Luachra
And in Gaelic speaking Ireland his stature has grown.
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The morning has a heavy winter chill
And dark rain clouds move over Clara hill
And the old man says that the rain will bucket down
As he stands holding his horse in the Square at Millstreet Town.
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It may effect your sense of self worth in some way
The negative things about you others say
It bothers you they have you in their 'gun'
Because you've never harmed anyone.
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He left her at Aubane cross on a sunny morn in May
He kissed the tearful maid goodbye and then the motor car sped away
His driver drove towards Shannon for Australia he was bound
He had left Aubane and Millstreet and was leaving Irish ground.
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