Francis Duggan Poems

When i was young my head was full of daydreams i had such silly notions of renown
But my prime years seemed to come and go so quickly in the countryside just west of Millstreet Town
In Claraghatlea in view of Clara Mountain from this great Land thousands of miles of sky
Whenever people ask me where i came from to them my heritage i never do deny
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The sanderling born and raised in the Arctic i saw them on Killarney beach today
They feasted on sea lice along the tide line and from the incoming waves they turned and ran away
Only to return quickly when the waves had retreated to devour what the ocean had washed in
Each incoming wave brought with it tiny life forms they need to move fast their morsels for to win
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If you are one who does laugh away life's worries some will even say with you there's something wrong
They will dismiss you as one who is mentally not right as if seriousness to sanity belong
They cannot see the happiness in laughter joy in their being a thing they do deny
They cannot laugh or see the use in laughter one of life's great gifts 'twould seem has passed them by
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She was the last rhyme poet of her suburb the classic rhymers nowadays seem quite rare
As well as poems she also penned songs and ballads her gifts with others she did share
She lived on her own never gave birth to children or never wished to become any fellow's wife
In her working years a secondary school teacher penning rhyming poetry was her passion in life
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The young men who died in wars from their homelands far away
In some parts of the World are remembered today
By the more patriotic who see war as okay
Yet what did they die for can anyone say?
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I do not write rhymes for money or glory
I only write because i love to write
And it bothers me none if the stuff i have written
Is not the type that readers do read or recite
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Some twenty first century literary critics try to tell us song is not poetry
And those they laud as poets do write in abstract prose
They have taken poetry from the workings classes
Though they are entitled to their opinions one must suppose
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The beauty of Nature is all around me and everywhere i turn i hear and see
The small birds chirping amongst the dense bushes and the magpie fluting on a tall gum tree
And Nature to me is the greatest teacher from her i learn something every day
But we will never learn of her secrets from us she keeps them well hidden away
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We are told that the now is all that matters though on memory lane i often take a stroll
The moment has me in the Town of Millstreet back in the heady days of rock 'n' roll
It was a time of change the nineteen fifties Bill Haley had them rocking round the clock
The new dance craze was spreading in the World and young people to it everywhere did flock
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Most poor people not poor of their own making in life they've never really had a chance
It would seem the gods of luck are all against them they were born to be victims of circumstance
Born in the poor suburbs of the big towns and cities and born in war zones children of Earthly Hell
The few of them who get to tell their stories do have the saddest stories for to tell
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