Francis Duggan Poems

The robin he sang on the bushy hedgerow
In old Annagloor where the Cails waters flow
Through old fields that were old in Goddess Anu's time
That have inspired writers to story, song and rhyme,
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Try to enjoy life it is not a long span
The woman on average by a few years outlives the man
And the average human life is three score and ten
The young quickly age to old women and men
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I know how it feels yes I do know when you talk of your lack of success
When you tell me of your sad existence and your constant battle with stress
For many the journey through life's a hard journey and they must struggle on to the end
And on that long and tiring journey not everyone you meet a friend
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At this time of year in South Eastern Australia the white backed magpies sing night and day
You hear them piping in the moonlight when brush tail possums in their cloaks of gray
Are fighting for to defend their borders on galvanize roofs and on trees
The noise of their snarlings is carrying through the quiet streets in the freshening breeze
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Were I born with the gift of poesy I'd write of the beauty I see
The unrivalled beauty of Nature that is everywhere around me
I'd pen my songs to Mother Nature I've loved her since I was a boy
From her people are always learning and lessons from her I enjoy,
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I never said to you I was a poet
Or even one of minor literary note
And the stuff I pen I could not hope to sell
The literary purists call it doggerel
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I've penned heaps of stuff on that old mountain rill
That babbles through Claramore by Clara hill
And through old fields and by hedgerows it winds it's way down
Through Claraghatlea a mile west of Millstreet Town
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The pee wees are Australians as Aussie as can be
In Town parks and country paddocks they sing pee wee pee wee
With the colours of the magpie many know them as magpie lark
Familiar black and white birds even in the City park
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On the meaning of life we do differ and on few things we seem to agree
The World as it appears to your eyes seems so very different to me
You talk about the life hereafter and of God's kingdom somewhere in the sky
Your right to your beliefs that is your right a right to you none should deny
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Known to many as the would be home of broken dreams the ruins on the verge of the town
The timbers propping it up are decaying about to crumble and fall down
The woman who owned it she ran out of money and the builders from it walked away
And others builders they did not want to know her when they knew them that she could not pay.
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