Francis Duggan May Poems

The bluebells adorn the ditch of the bohreen
And on the hedgerows and in leafy groves of Dereen
The songbirds are singing in the dawning gray
Just before sunrise on a beautiful day
...

He help the homeless children the children of the street
He give them clothes and shelter he give them food to eat
He try to shield them from police the police no mercy show
And the glue sniffing children of the streets at their hands suffer so.
...

It is a confession though it may seem a tale
At a lesbian party I was the lone male
The hosts an ageing lesbian couple they invited me
To dropp in on saturday evening for sandwiches and tea.
...

You well may be special and looked on as great
And you may be the one many do celebrate
But even those who are World renowned and at what they do World number one
If they do not retire when at the top by someone they will be outdone
...

I may never more see the Town of Millstreet
Or walk through the fields to where the waterways meet
Or hear the birds sing in the prime of the May
On the leafy hedgerows from here far away
...

You may know a lot about your favourite game
And from your commentaries and writings on it you know of wealth and fame
But there's more to life than talking of and writing of football
And about other things you seem to know little at all
...

You may feel the whole World is against you but few things in life do seem fair
But hope for a better tomorrow of the future one should not despair
And may today it be your worst day the toughest times for you may have gone
Just like every other survivor you hang in there and keep on keeping on
...

There is a distinct coolness in the late Autumn breeze
And it's chilly in the highlands though not cold enough to freeze
And a high today the forecast read of 17 degrees
And the currawongs are piping on the eucalyptus trees.
...

You may as well be happy for your troubles only few
And compared to many others hardships you've not been through
Some people know great poverty and their life journey uphill
But they make the most of their lives and they live on with a will.
...

You may be quite good even great at what you do
But remember there are some as good as you
And though at present you may be the best
From self praise at times your tongue does need a rest.
...

A time of year when growth is all but dormant though the grass has grown an inch or two of late
And the peach tree in the garden almost leafless and Winter just around the corner wait
And male blackbird save for a few chirps remains silent he does not have to sing to keep a mate
And just a few Winter plants bloom in the garden and Mother Nature herself hibernate.
...

Tomorrow may be better you hear some people say
But tomorrow will come in it's own good time we must live for today
And tomorrow for some will not dawn that's life one must suppose
We are as fragile it would seem as the petals of the rose,
...

Though some they may hurt you with words that they say
As long as their words are not defamatory in any way
Give them back in words as good as you've got
You too can have your go at stirring the pot.
...

We all may be equal in that we breathe the same air
But don't tell me that all in life is quite fair
Whoever speaks such tripe through their teeth are lying
When millions of people of hunger are dying
...

Tomorrow for you may be better if luck is not with you today
The big win at the pokies or lotto from you may not be far away
We all have our good and not so good days that's life one would have to suppose
And money and greed are companions and because of them friends become foes
...

It may be cool back there by Clara mountain
Quite cool indeed for the first week of May
Still wild cock pheasant cucks amongst the rushes
And birds sing on the hedgerows all the day.
...

I may live in this Land until my last day
And somewhere in this Land my remains will lay
But I'll always be a migrant and others of me will say
He is not one of us he is from far away.
...

Though she need not be short of a man in her life
The man that she loves will not make her his wife
She feels that she never may see him again
And perhaps as she now is till death she will remain.
...

It may not be in your Homeland that you will rest in peace
Not every Greek person is resting in Greece
Amongst Nature's bosom we are destined for to lay
From what is inevitable we cannot get away,
...

Soon i may say goodbye to the bare Countryside
To the flat and stony paddocks that stretch far and wide
North, south, east and west of the small town by the old stony hill
The lust for wander leaves me restless as the clear flowing rill
...

You may be a very wealthy person and for your generosity know of renown
And with your marvellous gift of money help the poor souls of the town
Do not crave for admiration never wish for glory's crown
Yet whilst many do applaud you there is one to put you down.
...

You well may pay homage to your queen and king
But 'tis not about royalty that I wish to sing
Or the president or the celebrity or the billionaire
I sing of the battlers of the big World out there.
...

In life may you be happy and your biggest worry small
For one day the high and non achievers to the reaper's scythe must fall
And then to you it will not matter not one little bit at all
If you are one of the forgotten or others your fame recall,
...

You may feel the World is against you and if you feel that way
For you that's how it must be
For there is so much truth in the saying
That we create our reality.
...

Some of us may not like the democractically elected Government and in words our anger on them vent
But they are our representatives and us they represent
When the Ministers go to other Countries to talk to the Government Ministers there
Though no advantage in that for us of which I am aware
...

The cock pheasant cucks where the rank rushes grow
And in the cool of the dawn in grove and on hedgerow
The songbirds are singing to greet the new day
And everywhere lush and green in the prime of the May,
...

May Herlihy O Connor has breathed her last
The sad news of her passing took me to the past
When she and her late husband Donal raised their big family in Minor Row
On going back the years some three decades ago.
...

I may not be here when the flowers bloom in Spring
And the nesting male songbirds do whistle and sing
Of how long we will live never a guarantee
And what appiles to all too does apply to me.
...

It may not be by Cashman's Hill far north and far away
From this far southern Country my bones will forever lay
But to me it will not matter when the life from me has gone
Until the Reaper's scythe I cannot avoid I will keep living on.
...

In three decades of years many minutes of time
And back in the late seventies I was past my prime
Back there in the place of the gray hooded crow
Where the river Finnow to the Blackwater flow.
...

The man who was once admired as a king
His praises nowadays they no longer do sing
Even some of John Howard's loyal admirers now say
That life does go on and he did have his day
...

Your grand new home and Olympic sized swimming pool and your new mercedes car
Says nothing to me of you of the person that you are
Says nothing to me of you if of heart that you are kind
Money necessarily does not make us better people or towards generosity inclined
...

May peace, love and happiness and good health you only know
And may good luck be with you where to where-ever you go
And may you be financially well off without the burden of care
And may you know how to give and receive and share
...

Some people may choose to dislike you though you've not harmed them in any way
Behind your back your good name they sully and negative things of you say
Their dislike of you may be racist or sexist or some form of jealousy
Such things have happened to so many and such things have happened to me.
...

A plump and round faced woman in her early forties with shoulder length brown hair that's turning gray
The best loved person in the neighbourhood the happy go lucky Rosy May
Her husband is Bert they have three school going children two girls and a younger boy
A very happy family and the gift of life they do seem to enjoy.
...

I may seem pessimistic though I am not without hope
But in this World of many pitfalls I do struggle for to cope
Some see me as a bit dippy not quite right in the head
Though worse things I remember about me have been said.
...

'Tis not by the God you believe in or if you drive in a new car
These kind of things do not tell me of the person that you are
Your values as a Human Being tell us more about you
Than your new car or your new house or than your God can do.
...

You may have come home a hero from the killing streets of war
But that does not tell us much about you or what sort of a man you are
The one who never fired a gun and to his beliefs is true
Though by many not seen as a hero is not a lesser man than you.
...

Doggerels by the million are written by poetasters every day
And poetasters are many and poets are few they say
And artists may be many and good artists are few
And though you may be great at something there is one greater than you.
...

In Inverloch in South Gippsland a pleasant Autumn day
The sunlight on the coastal trees and quite warm for May
The red wattlebirds are calling on the banksias by the sea
And the magpie he is piping on high branch of blackwood tree.
...

In clump of grass by thick hedge on her eggs the pheasant lay
And the much more brightly coloured male cucks near all through the day
And the meadow pipit pipes his song as o'er the field he fly
And scent of blossom in the wind in May in Lisnaboy.
...

You've often heard it said before each to their point of view
And what is true to one person to another doesn't seem true
But if your point of view is not discriminatory though in some things we do not agree
Then I will listen to your truth and that's okay with me.
...

You may not be a famous person or cannot boast of a degree
And you may be at the bottom of the human social tree
But if you can laugh a little and spread some happiness
And leave this World without harming another person your life's been a success.
...

The robin he sings on green sycamore bough
And calf drink from udder of her mother cow
And the dark otters play in quiet pools of the stream
And May's come to Ireland and meadows are green,
...

You may imitate my accent and your judgement may not be fair
And you may laugh at me I'm different but I really do not care
You don't seem to like my manner and like the look of my face
Don't like anything about me, you don't even like my race.
...

The birds sing on the Cork and Kerry border
I hear them pipe on hedge and bush and tree
And swallows wing to and fro above the lush fields
Of Gneeveguilla and Rathmore and Knocknagree.
...

Though I've been told what I already know that my better days are gone
I don't intend to lie down and die no I will carry on
Until the reaper who claims all life will come for to claim me
Some time in the future whenever that may be.
...

The darkening rain clouds gather across the morning sky
And skylark leaves the bracken and upwards as he fly
Soaring he keeps singing till in clouds he disappear
The bird is now invisible but his music I can hear.
...

The leaves on liquid ambar tree have turned a russet yellow
And balding oak stand in the rain like aged hoary fellow
And May stole through the silent wood and no one heard her coming
She came at dark in russet cloak when the frogmouth was humming.
...

it's cold for May and weather most severe
And swallow yet to return home this year
And still no trace or sound of bird cuckoo
And to hear him now would be like dream come true.
...