Francis Duggan Poems

Where sheep and cattle are in plenty and houses and people are rare
It is a big country the country out there
A flat open country-side looking gray to brown
At least fifty kilometres from the nearest Bushtown.
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Nothing better I'd like than spend an hour or more
Sipping coffee in a cafe in old Semaphore
In a place I could live in until my last day
In that Town by saltwater in view of Largs Bay.
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One might laugh at this but it is not a joke
He thinks the 'Indian Myna' is about Indian Culture one must feel for the poor bloke
He does not know that the myna is a bird born with wings for to fly
That ignorance is bliss to him has to apply
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In Semaphore Stuart's is quite a well known face
And he feels so much at home in the old place
His late dad was a sailor from old Aberdeen
One who in his lifetime much of the world had seen.
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In Lackabawn or in Millstreet Town he will not be seen again
But fond memories of John Kelleher with his friends and family will remain
Let's hope he did not die slowly from life his was not a painful release
For each and everyone of us there is a lasting peace
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If you cannot say good about someone say nothing at all
Those words from a wise person I do recall
But few heed those words and the few does not include me
Suppose what we dislike in others in ourselves we do see.
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The huge saltpans of the Coorong circular and white as snow
With time's passage getting bigger in the land where saltbush grow
The Coorong is slowly dying where waterfowl did once abound
In the countryside of many dried out lakes few birds now to be found
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How can one make an Aussie out of me
Since an Aussie on paper is all that I would be
I'm an Irish person that and nothing more
One who lives far south of old Hibernia's Shore.
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The Universal Karma has found a believer in me
And though many with what I say may not agree
In karma we reap the fruits of what we sow
All things about us karma does seem to know
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For to save our natural environment some say 'tis too late
But the beauty of Nature we should celebrate
Smoke from factory chimneys and motorized vehicles polluting the air
And due to habitat destruction Wildlife becoming rare
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