Francis Duggan Poems

For to have survived European colonization for them worth a boast
To the first Australians we should drink a toast
Anthropologists claim their ancestors reached the southern shores sixty thousand years ago
And maybe even further back in time for of that how would they know
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In the sunny blue sky just a few clouds of gray
On June the twenty first the southern year's shortest day
For the southern Winter solstice a forecast high of fifteen degrees
A pleasant day out of doors of scarcely any breeze
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I love the countryside bordering the rural town
And the warbling of the magpies just after sundown
And the cawings of the dark little ravens on the tall headland trees
Their sharp calling carrying in the freshening breeze
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I see them often though not every day
The whistling blackbird sized birds of brown and gray
From wooded places never far away
Near where trees and bushes are they like to stay
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Her beauty is all around us every day
A beauty for to view we do not have for to pay
From a tiny seed she grows a mighty tree
And she feeds every life form including humanity
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He may be a criminal and from the police on the run
But the mother will always stick up for her son
He has been harassed by the police and wrongfully served time
My son he never did commit any crime.
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He's not been known to expend energy
Spends most of his life on high branch of gum tree
Scratching his ears and sitting on his bum
And feasting on the leaves of manna gum.
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They march uptown for to reclaim the night
Carrying lighted candles and small battery hand lights
Their peaceful protest for basic human right
And in solidarity you will find much might.
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I went in search of rednecks I heard that they were rare
But I found them to be plentiful I saw them everywhere
I saw them digging dykes and drains in mud up to their knees
And I saw them in the Parliament People of high degrees.
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Some talk of their mates and what Mateship's about
But the greatness of Mateship is open to doubt
What is one person's truth is another person's lie
And so few for their mates would be prepared to die.
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