Francis Duggan Poems

Sigerson Clifford sung of the The Boys of Barr Na Sraide the happy boys who hunted for the Wran
The boys who grew up to be freedom fighters Who took on the British troops The Black and Tan
He glorified them in his famous ballad the brave young rebels of his Kerry Town
The boys of Caherciveen and Barr Na Sraide to fight for Ireland their claim to renown
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Rhymers will always be rhymers and for as long as they live as rhymers they remain
Penning blank verse does not seem to interest them one might say they have rhyme on the brain
They may be seen as out of fashion by those with their literary degrees
Who are seen as literary experts and for their opinions command high fees
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Since Callanan penned Gougane Barra going back many decades in time
Poetry has undergone many changes and long out of fashion is rhyme
And gone are the great Gaelic translators they are now seen as out of date
And as a poet and a translator the Cork poet with the best did rate.
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So much about Nature David Attenborough know
My wonder at his knowledge only does grow
His documetaries the most informative things on the t v
The man is a genius none as clever as he,
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The temperatures in the mid twenties around twenty five degrees
And the sparrows are chirping on the bushes and trees
And white butterflies flitting in the warm sunlight
In near perfect weather so breezy and bright.
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Though little strange in that most migrants would say
I often do think of old friends far away
More than twenty years since I've seen them and time ticking on
And my prime years of life to the ways of time gone.
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Do not wish to hear your war stories of battles fought and won
Since I saw on t v this evening a mother grieve for her dead son
Her son murdered by a sniper with a bullet in his back
And I could only feel pity for this poor mother in Iraq
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High off of the ground I could see them
On the old oak tree trunk cavity
The wild honey bees they were buzzing
Absorbed in their honey making activity.
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You feel the World's against you your car has broken down
Way out there in the country miles from the nearest town
You sit there in the driver seat your head bowed against the wheel
Thinking to yourself I'd be better off dead this is how low you do feel.
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Of war and it's bloodshed far too much we know
Let's hear it for peace and for all a fair go
Nationalism, Religion, Patriotism and Culture only seem to divide
And war leaders declare we have God on our side.
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