Francis Duggan Poems

Every shower of rain is welcome it's been two months so they say
Since it last rained in Maleny and it's raining there today
And the farmer he feels happy though his paddocks looking bare
And he thanks the God rainmaker that some rain he now can spare.
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I've broken a promise I've made to myself
That I'd return to Ireland in the Spring
But without me grass will grow and flowers will bloom
And birds will build their nests and chirp and sing.
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In the sunshine a blackbird is singing in the front garden
on a birch tree
And she lives far south of Duhallow and her old home place of Knocknagree
A widow in her mid to late forties her brown hair is fading to gray
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The wanderlust is in him he is young and carefree
He's now in sunny Queensland deep diving out at sea
He's been to Asia, North America and Europe his next port of call Japan
For one in his young twenties he's a well travelled man.
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She loves green Mother Nature with all her heart and soul
And in the fight to save Birdsland from the developers she played a leading role
And to the cause of Nature she remains ever true
The noble Betty Marsden her equals only few.
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From Murray Bridge to the suburbs the road winds up and down
And the rolling hills of Adelaide have never looked so brown
A humid evening in autumn around 23 degrees
The sun is clouded over and scarce a puff of breeze.
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We've not seen much sunshine since tenth day of May
And it has been the worst Summer for making hay
But God is much kinder the old fellow say
And we'll all meet in Cullen on Latiarian day.
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Somethings from childhood till old age remain
And old Joe returns to his youth again
By stream between the hedgerow and the old dirt track
He often stood and watched the stickleback.
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We left old Melbourne City in the darkness
And the northbound train stopped at each rural town
And a gray dawn broke as we neared outer Sydney
This Land now green has often been so brown.
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Where I came from accomplishment means power of money
Unless of course you've known sporting success
And things are much the same here in Australia
If you are poor others you won't impress.
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