I'Ve Never Been Shortlisted Poem by Francis Duggan

I've never been short listed for a literary prize
Which after all is not any surprise
Since I cannot make a living from my pen
I'm one of the group of the would be literary men.

And though others my verses may not recite
I keep on penning stuff for I was born to write
Addicted to penning rhyme for many a day
Of life and Nature there's so much to say.

To any hope of literary success I'm not one who cling
But of life and Nature I'm happy to sing
There is far more to the bird than his song
To him and to Nature his secrets belong.

Let others dream of their immortality
The stuff I have written will not outlive me
But not everyone who writes is one of note
And of course not everyone can be a poet.

Though I've penned doggerel for many a day
I've never said with words I had a way
I'm one of those who does pen heaps of stuff
But to make the grade few do seem good enough.