Somewhere In Life Poem by Francis Duggan

I come from a rural and working class background
Though in that group some feel I don't belong
And the literary dons shun me as a poetaster
Somewhere in life I must have got it wrong.

I cannot blame my father or my mother
At least they did their very best for me
'Twas not their fault if I've not been successful
If I'm still at the base of social tree.

Still an unknown after years of scribbling verses
Though I'm still under the verse makers spell
Perhaps it gives me a reason to keep living
Just to add to my name one more doggerel.

For lack of success in a free society
One only has himself alone to blame
And from literature few have ever made a fortune
In fact the thorniest road of all to fame.

I have no right to wallow in self pity
When there are many far worse off than I
Life's opportunities are for the taking
And the chances I had I left them go by.

The bloom of human life passes so quickly
And there are no easy pathways to renown
And my better days were many years behind me
Before I left my home by Millstreet Town.

I come from a farming and working class background
Though some say to that group I don't belong
And the literary dons shun me as a poetaster
Somewhere in life I must have got it wrong.