Joe From Yarram Poem by Francis Duggan

I have yet to see Joe unhappy he says life is too short for tears
And each evening he's down at his local with his mates enjoying a few beers
In a small group they gather around him in silence as if in a spell
He always has a captive audience as old yarns and stories he tell.

I've often heard him talk of Yarram the Yarram he knew as a boy
In the Town south side he lived with his parents in a cottage with paddocks nearby
His dad worked for the Yarram Council till his death three decades ago
And the loss of a mentor as well as a father was one of life's low points for Joe.

He experienced first love in Yarram with a raven haired beauty of sixteen
And he was only one year older and to the ways of love still green
And when she left him for another the love ache lasted for some while
But on looking back on his young years about it all now he can smile.

He played junior football with Yarram but at eighteen he gave the game away
And he had a yearning for travel and in his old Hometown he did not stay
He worked his way around Australia and he has been there and done that
From Melbourne to Adelaide, Perth and Darwin to Brisbane, Sydney and Ballarat.

He talks in the pub of his travels and of his younger years in Yarram Town
And he's been around the big Country and travelled the coast up and down
And his captive audience they listen when stories from his past he recall
And his memories of his Boyhood in Yarram to him his best memories of all.