Francis Duggan Poems

I know this ageing Irish fellow Dan
His mother's father fought against the Black and Tan
By all accounts he was a noble man
And he is one still honoured by his clan.
...

The woman five doors down tells me her son Ted is the best player in the school football team
And that one day he will play in an A.F.L. Grand Final and that more than once of late she's had this dream
Of watching him receive the Coleman medal for best on ground on football's biggest day
Watched by well over ninety thousand people who cheer him on with a loud hip hooray.
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Christmas morning here in Melbourne I sit here in Bourke Street Mall
And of all of the days of Christmas this is the quietest day of all
And old Chrismas tunes from Myers fill the peaceful morning air
And the bells of nearby church house ring the faithful in for prayer.
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Little silver gull hop up near me looking for hunger quenching bite
And the poor half starving fellow has a great big appetite
But I don't have food to give him sorry little bird I say
Though I'll be back here tomorrow with some bread to give away.
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The cattle for the fair were housed an early start next day
And their trough was filled with water and their bin was filled with hay
And the farmer and his two teenage sons were in their beds by nine
Tomorrow early they would walk for miles in weather wet or fine.
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I never had the notion that I might be a poet
But of Duhallow countryside in slip shod rhyme I've wrote
And I have heard the skylark pipe in the Summer sky
Above the rushy meadows of green old Lisnaboy.
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They tell us who our enemies are and those who we ought to fear
But any real plan for World peace from them we never hear
And how much more of the Planet Earth are they going to destroy
And how many more have to suffer and how many more have to die?
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for years he's lived and worked in Millstreet the man who shattered Millstreet's dream
The day he kicked the equalizer for the Carbery football team
Fifteen thousand watched in Macroom some quite stunned by what they'd seen
When Millstreet were forced to a replay 'thanks to Bob from Skibbereen'.
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She asked me what part of Ireland do you come from anyway?
And I said west of Millstreet Town a place called Claraghatlea,
She said this place called Millstreet still rings a bell to me
My father came from Kerry a mile north of Tralee
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Commerce has greatly suffered since the old factory was closed down
And many businesses for sale in the dying country down
But not one business has been sold none brave enough to buy
A business in a country town that is about to die.
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