The Last Rhyme Man Of Ringwood Poem by Francis Duggan

He's well beyond the ninety and he's Ringwood's last rhyme poet
And his out put is a huge one and reams of rhymes he's wrote
And still he keeps on writing and his verses multiply
And he has still as much zest for life as any teenage boy.

Old style bards like Keith Shepherd the Uni Dons now say
Belong to other era and not relevant today
They talk of modern poetry and how poetry ought to be
But their's is a narrow concept or so 'twould seem to me.

The last rhyme man of Ringwood goes back a long, long time
For seventy years or even more he has been penning rhyme
He writes about the bushlands and the coast lands and the sea
And the characters he once knew still fresh in his memory

And the old poet is still rhyming to old age he give the lie
And reading his marvellous verses is to me a source of joy
Since the moment he saw daylight in the year 1905
Many gone to the grim reaper but Keith Shepherd still survive.

The Uni dons now say the rhyme bard belong to another time
That there's no place in modern poetry for the old style 'man of rhyme'
But the bard will be remembered no thanks to the literary don
And he will still have his readers and his verses will live on.