Tony Poem by Francis Duggan

He must be over eighty his hair is silver gray
And the future's all that matter that's what old Tony say
His wife a bush Australian and his children Aussies too
And he's lived for more than fifty years in Land of Kangaroo.

He seldom talks of England or of his younger years
And for his native Yorkshire he doesn't shed any tears
He now feels he's Australian but some Yorkshire in him stay
That accent he brought with him refuse to go away.

That he was born an Englishman he never does deny
And that accent he brought with him is with him till he die
And he does not wish for marble stone inscribed to his memory
But his ashes in Jam Jerrup spread on mud flats by the sea.

He found heart ease in Jam Jerrup he love the peace and quiet
To walk the mudflats with his dog in the morning sunlight
And walk home with an appetite have breakfast with his wife
Contented in his twilight years and happy in his life.

He's lived in Land of Kangaroo for more than fifty years
And for his native Yorkshire he doesn't shed any tears
I feel so much Australian that's what old Tony say
But the accent that he brought with him is still a give away.