The Old Dead Patriarchs Poem by Francis Duggan

They started a feud between two families that has been going on for years
That has led to assaults and court cases and to bitterness and tears
A feud that is still going on today about a boundary fence
Some people take their grudges too far for want of better sense.

In the cemetery at the west side of the Town at rest they forever lay
But the bitterness they started years ago in their kin lives on today
One family cannot make peace with the other without a seeming loss of face
It has not occurred to either side to forget, forgive and embrace.

The old dead patriarchs still the patriarchs of their family
They seem to rule from their old graves in the Town cemetery
Their grudges did not die with them their grandchildren today
Say if we make peace with those next door what would old grand dad say.

The old dead patriarchs are at rest to the Reaper long gone
But their old feuds which seems sad to say by their families carried on
A feud that started about a metre of ground around a boundary fence
Some people take their grudges too far for want of better sense.