Francis Duggan Poems

Bill feels he is a fair dinkum Australian
He says I'm Aussie born and bred and grown
It's not my fault that my dad came from Ireland
From County Kerry by the Paps of Shrone.
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There was a time when with Athens finest dancers he could hold the floor
And he could dance non stop for three hours or even four
But Dimitri won't be going back home any more
And his bones will rest here in a foreign shore.
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On the shores of Lake Bolac in the quiet wooded park
The songbirds singing all day long from early dawn till dark
And magpie pipes his finest upon the gray gum tree
By the waters of lake bolac far distant from the sea.
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Who will want to recall Easter Monday night
When Ramtown lads came to Oakview for fight
But all of those who came to witness the big brawl
Will have no vivid memory to recall.
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Poets have sung of royal monarchs and of pomp and ceremony
And many of these poets now famous live on in literary history
But the poets who wrote for the poor people their names few wish to recall
Life has been this way for centuries and things may never change at all.
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The fastest dog in Millstreet when I was a young boy
Was owned and bred by Maurice Connors his name was Black July
Trained by Paddy O Keeffe at Dooneen a leading trainer then
In the Kennedy cup at Limerick he had a famous win.
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Now don't you think it quite unfair
To judge him for his straggly hair
And if his dreadlocks are tinged with blue
What would that have to do with you? .
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Oh pity them the lost youth of Australia
They are the victims of sad circumstance
They are the children of dysfunctional parents
And in life they've never really had a chance.
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In Shannaknuck the old hill songbirds pipe all the day
And wildflowers bloom in margins by bog road through Liscreagh
And curlew in the bogland his flute like notes I hear
At once so very far away and then so very near.
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Go out and spend your money friend 'tis soon you'll have to die
So what use in piling riches up for others to enjoy
And don't have some relation say on the day they lay you low
He forgot me he left me nought the bloody so and so.
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