Francis Duggan Poems

The longest lived human life in time not a long span
So you ought to live for as long as you possibly can
And always fear danger for a long life quite a good plan
And hopefully die without pain as a very old woman or man
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It has been many years ago since her hair was chestnut brown
Since she pedalled on her bicycle on the streets of Millstreet Town
She left the Town in view of Clara Hill a few years short of her life's prime
More than half of a century from then to now she is showing the wear of time
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Years ago a wise woman did say to me
What you dislike in others is what you dislike in yourself you see
With her intuitive insight i could only agree
Other people can be our reflective mirrors is how it seems to be
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Young Johnny devastated his feelings he could not disguise
He finished last in the school race tears flowed from his eyes
But his father James hugged him saying i am proud of you son
I could not feel any prouder even if you had won
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Olympic gold medals and World Championship medals you well may win
But on doing so you are not making the World a better World to live in
These are personal achievements despite of what many may say
You are not helping those doing it tough in your Country in any financial way
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Their kind are seen in fields and woods and parks and gardens of the town
Yellow billed male blackbird is a glossy bird his female partner is plain and brown
Through her lifetime she is a silent one and he sings in the Spring
The blackbird's distinctive melodious song to hear is always a pleasant thing
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I know that some of them in Duhallow did stay
And like me the years are showing on them today
And some of them with the deceased now does lay
That time does take it's toll only true to say
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The sky overcast looks like rain on the way
In the parks by the Merri on this September day
The warbling songs so pleasant to hear
Of the magpies who sing every day of the year
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Many people could tell you of their good and bad years
And of their days of laughter and their days of tears
In life there is many an up and a down
For most of the people who live in your town
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I feel rather lucky when compared to Jim
Of late things have not been going well for him
A grandfather in his mid seventies healthwise not feeling well
The years on him clearly beginning to tell
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