Francis Duggan Poems

I've never referred to myself as a poet
Or as one who should be worthy of literary note
The stuff that I pen I don't try for to sell
I am one of those people who writes doggerel
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As long as to be a better person you it does inspire
'Tis good for you for to have one to admire
One who leads by good example to the higher self true
Such a person such a good role model for you
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Human life can be much like a game of football
The winners we only do wish to recall
The hero as usual kicks the winning score
Tell us something new we have heard it before
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What are the marks of a good patriot why ask me I hardly would know
I never did fight in a war zone or have a war medal to show
That I am a very brave fellow courage I displayed under fire
But if that what it takes to be a good patriot to such I do never aspire.
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Ageing Bella in the house at the corner outdoors she is not often seen
She was a potential swimming Olympian till a motoring accident she had at eighteen
Brought an end to her swimming career back in ninteen seventy three
And condemned her to life in a wheelchair she does deserve great sympathy.
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Are we any different to other creatures we are born and grow old and die
My next door neighbour's border collie seems no less a mortal than I
Well anyway that's how I see it though most with me would disagree
But everyone has their opinion and we all look at life differently
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What do they matter my opinions mine is just one point of view
I cannot hope to change the World in that I'm not one of a few
I will never be a ruler nor others I do not wish to lead
Many would count me as a failure one who has failed to succeed
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For many the struggle is just to survive
And many feel lucky just to be alive
In Burma from a recent cyclone thousands of people have died
By Nature the breath of life of them denied.
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Feel grateful to our Earth mother for at least we should feel aware
That without her we could not exist of us she takes good care
We pollute her sky and waterways and remove trees from her land
Yet what we do to her to ourselves we do many of us don't seem to understand
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Back there in the fields by the old stream I daydreamed I would be a poet
That I would become very famous a literary person of note
But daydreams as we know are daydreams and daydreams do seldom come true
And life it has formed the habit of giving us what we are due.
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