Laments Of An Ill Starred Man Poem by Francis Duggan

'Oh' I feel sad and lonely for life has done me wrong
My days are dull and dreary and my nights are cold and long
Once I was a happy man but now that seems long ago
And now life is a misery and my heart's full of woe.

I buried my wife Mary I watched them put her down
In that lonesome graveyard a mile east of the Town
She died and left me to take care of little Joe and Jane
Our twin babies I've not seen for years and may never meet again.

The people at the graveside stared at me in disbelief
It puzzled them that I was showing no outward sign of grief
But little did those people know the grief I felt within
A grief I somehow managed to keep hidden away from them.

I had our babes adopted there seemed no other way
A decision I regret even to this day
At that time I had little choice and though it grieved my heart
With the year old twins our marriage brought I forever did part.

Often times I awake at night in my wifeless bed
And often times in the darkness wish that God would strike me dead
For I have known misfortune and the sadder side of life
I've parted with my children and I've buried my poor wife.

But there are many others who have met it tough as I
Who will live a most unhappy life until the day they die
Who will only have the memories of a dearest one now dead
And see no hope of happiness in times that lay ahead.