Francis Duggan Poems

I am one of those a migrant from my Homeland far away
But I'm thankful to the reaper for allowing me one more day
Every day I live to see I'm happy though my better days are gone
And my life is near it's twilight and the clock is ticking on.
...

Just to be a better and a kinder person is all that I ever aspire to be
That others in big brother's eyes are more successful is something that does never bother me
On me the biological clock is ticking and time on anyone never does wait
And I feel that I have a lot less of energy as I move closer to my use by date
...

We may claim that we own the land and from land ownership we gain
But the land is only our land for as long as the life in us remain
But our land we can't take with us when we cease to live and die
And the one with the deeds to ten thousand acres is a mortal as am I.
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We soon grow old and weary for fleeting is our prime
And time's waters wipe our footprints from the unending sands of time
The immortal names were mortals they they too grew old and died
And a lot have been forgotten since Christ was crucified.
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In the groves near Ballydaly the nesting birds in song
The robin and the blackbird are singing all day long
The dunnock in the hedgerow at daybreak one does hear
And the tiny brown wren with the big bird voice is singing loud and clear
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It has been more than twenty years and in that there's many a dawn
Since I have seen the high fields of green old Tooreenbawn
My sister Margaret and her husband Michael Casey lives there and there they raised their family
And it has been two decades since any of them I see.
...

A war fought more than three hundred years ago they see fit to celebrate
One might say they are not up with the times a long way out of date
What happened three hundred years ago can hardly be of relevance to today
That seems more than living in the past that does seem fair to say
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For the past few days it has been raining yet we need far more rain
And the creeks they are not flowing and little water in any drain
It has been said that for the present el nino is back at sea
But two days of rain is scarce sufficent to heal the affects of the longest drought in history,
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The jetty from the foreshore goes for one hundred metres out to sea
In a place I'd love for to live in that's how 'twould seem to me
Largs Bay in South Australia a jewel by the sea shore
Within sight of Outer Harbour and the Town of Semaphore.
...

The poet who immortalized Gougane Barra rests in peace forever more
Far from the countryside he glorified and Hibernia's lush green shore
In Portugal from County Cork many sea miles away
But the poems and songs of J J Callanan are alive and well today
...