Francis Duggan Poems

Goodbye to the fields in view of Clara hill
And goodbye to the babbling old Claraghatlea rill
That through the old rushy fields babbles it's way
Down to the Cails river every night and day
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From listening to Nature great insights we gain
The crickets are singing to tell us of rain
The sky clouded over at gloam of the day
And from us rain cannot be too far away
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I've never fought in war and I've often told a lie
But that's human i suppose and one day I'll have to die
And what will it matter then my living will be done
If battles I've not fought and battles I've not won.
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We cannot change the past that so happens to be true
But an apology should be given to those to whom it is due
And for wrongs of the past the Turkish Government to the Armenian people should apologize
But if that does come about then that would be a surprise.
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We cannot feel their grief or know of their mental pain
But from the lives of others some insights we can gain
And we should not judge others till we walk in their shoes
We cannot be good winners if with grace we cannot lose
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The sun shining bright on the Parkland on the second day of the Fall
And amidst the buzzing of the bush flies the black and white magpie larks call
By the weather forecast today is supposed to be raining but we will not have rain today
Even weather experts are prone to error such is life some are known to say,
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He said I'd be a stranger in Kilcorney now and none there I might know
For I left that place in forty eight more than fifty years ago
And I was only twenty then the years have made me slow
And I show the wear and tear of time my hair as white as snow.
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If you climb six steps of eighteen step ladder you don't have that far to fall
And you won't know great disappointment if your dreams are only small
And those who scaled the heights of success had to climb up all of the way
And many who have reached the summit at the summit could not stay.
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I come from a rural and working class background
Though in that group some feel I don't belong
And the literary dons shun me as a poetaster
Somewhere in life I must have got it wrong.
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Though Con Dennehy his proper name we knew him as ''Snowball'
And by nickname he had for years he became known to all
And how his nickname came to him I never did find out
Though some day one may tell to me how snowball came about.
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