Francis Duggan Poems

One i do see often though not every day
In her early seventies her shoulder length hair silver gray
With a beautiful smile and a joy for to meet
One untainted by self importance or conceit
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At the Shannaknock by road they often parked their horse drawn live in vans
Some of the born to wander members of the traveling clans
They were born to travel and on the roads they grew old
And at horse fairs by them horses were bought and sold
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It has been many years since my hair was dark brown
Since i lived in Claraghatlea close to Millstreet Town
The years have left me looking balder and older and gray
And time on my life ever ticking away
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That time claims the wealthy and poor and the villians and heroes cannot be denied
And the last surviving soldiers of World War 1 long since have died
The war supposed to end all wars words are so easily said
Since nineteen eighteen millions of war dead
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The physical beauty of youth is quick to decay
And many as they age use hair dyes and cosmetics to hide signs of aging away
But the beauty in wisdom that one cannot visually behold
Does mature with age as the wise one grows old
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On a tree in a paddock near where old Merri flow
I hear the harsh cawing of a dark pale eyed crow
One of a corvid species that is widely known
It is true about crows they have ways of their own
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If because of you the World to live in is a better place
And you meet the challenges of life with a smile on your face
And you help a poor person in need of helping without asking for pay
Of the good things we do in life we receive in good Karma one day
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Since last i saw them twenty seven years gone by
But on looking back on the past time does seem to fly
Like me time would have left them looking older and gray
My friends of the past where might they be today?
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Old Joe the ex shearer his hair silver gray
One who surely has known a far better day
In shearing sheds on the east side of the great Southern Land
Respect as a shearer he used to command
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For years he lived with his wife Peg where they raised their son John and daughter Peg in Millstreet Town's Minor Row
A down to earth quiet fellow though many of him did know
A family man devoted to his family and to his wife
Arthur O' Keeffe lived in Millstreet Town all of his life
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