Francis Duggan Rose Poems

A beauty in her younger years though beauty until death with few does stay
The former Rose of Carriganimma where might she be today
Does she like many others in hair dye cloak her gray
And with anti ageing creams smooth age wrinkles away
...

She lived with her blind mother beside a purling stream
In their little white washed cottage in the Valley of Rosheen
Her hair as dark as raven's wing and her eyes blue as ripened sloes
The sightless widow's only child the lovely maid named Rose.
...

Her pink petals lay on the short grass beside the red brick garden wall
By the thorny mother that bore her the last lovely rose of the Fall
White butterflies flit in the garden in the warm sunshine of mid day
And the shrike thrush he pipes on a low branch in his cloak of light brown to gray,
...

In Cafe Saltwater overlooking the sea
You will see her there every day around three
Enjoying her cappucino she sits on her own
As one of great beauty she used to be known.
...

For the past twenty of her fifty years she's lived in Port Adelaide
And every day in the old Town a new friend she has made
Her nickname is 'The Coorong Rose' from the coastal lands from where she came
And she is one who doesn't take offence to be called by her nickname.
...

Upon the leaf litter that covers the ground
The faded rose petals lay scattered around
The last rose of Autumn has answered the call
Of the cold grim reaper and so too must we all.
...

She was a former Rose of Port Fairy where the white waves of Pacific roll
But the years have left their mark upon her the years on us all do take toll
Though for one in her mid to late fifties she certainly does look okay
With anti ageing cream she hides time wrinkles and with brown dye she covers her gray
...

She was nineteen years old the Rose of the Town
With brown eyes and shoulder length tresses of brown
But the reaper on all of our lives has the final say
And all is quiet and dark now where she does lay.
...

The rose she has gone back to Nature
Her petals on the grass by her mother tree lay
But memories of her blooming in the sunshine
With me till my own end will stay.
...

She looked so well dolled up the fair ageing rose
And few would believe that she does wear op shop clothes
She wears heavy makeup her gray hair dyed brown
And one would swear that she was from the wealthy side of the town
...

The Rose of Cornwall is the nickname of Jackie and though over fifty she still looks quite good
And she is witty, kind and very generous and she would only help you if she could
And every one who know her seem to like her and about her none have a bad word to say
And I've been told to help out the less fortunate she has been known to go out of her way.
...

She was the Rose of Gneeveguila Village when I was young so many years ago
With brown hair shiny as October chestnut and bue eyes bluer than the ripened sloe
And winning smile she never failed to win you there was a cheery warmth in her hello
And though many years have passed since I last saw her the memories live of one I used to know.
...

She was the Rose of Yarram when she was in her prime
But she like all of the rest of us cannot turn back the hands of time
Despite the hair dyes that she use to hide the tell tale gray
She's not the beauty she once was all roses fade away.
...

She came to live in this Southern Land in the year two thousand and two
A woman in her early twenties with brown hair and eyes of blue
A young woman from the Celtic World in Brittany in France
And she is such a happy soul and she loves to sing and dance
...

She is still his Rose his Rose of Tarwin though she lives far away
And she will be his Rose of Tarwin until his life's final day
It's been said that one only truly loves once and with that he would agree
And he still loves the one he once courted near where the Tarwin meets the sea.
...

The former Rose of Cullen where might she be today
She left the Village years ago when flowers bloomed in the May
She left as many others did for places far away
For the Land of opportunity the great U S of A.
...

Her shoulder length hair is golden and her eyes are a light brown
The Rose of Korumburra the old south Gippsland Town,
Five foot ten without high heels and well proportioned and fair
And young women of such beauty to say the least quite rare.
...

Memories come to me often from the long lost years ago
When I was close to my prime day of one I visually did know
Blue eyed, blond haired she looked lovely wonder now where might she be
And in her fifties is she happy the once Rose of Derrinagree?
...

In the mid sixties she was Meeniyan's Rose
And she looked well and she wore expensive clothes
And her nut brown hair she retains with the aid of dye
Still she looks her years though that she may deny.
...

Wonthaggi Rose and how are you this morning
Your cheery smile it helps to make my day
The gold billed blackbird whistling on the wattle
Though the sun behind the rain clouds hid away.
...

Kanturk in Duhallow where River Allow does flow
A Town in North Cork that of i used to know
Though i have not been to there for many a day
Since from the fields by the Boggeraghs i do live far away
...

With dark blue eyes and shoulder length wavy hair of light brown
A young rose of the Moyne Shire the pride of old Koroit Town
Of average height of slender build free of conceit or guile
The charm and warmth of Koroit is in her lovely smile
...

Back in the mid nineteen eighties before she had children and her hair was light brown
She was the young young Rose of old Castlemaine Town
Now a grandmother in her early fifties she lives in a flat on her own
And her better days in life she is one who surely has known
...

Her wavy shoulder length hair a light chestnut brown
The charming dark eyed beauty of old Koroit Town
With a beautiful smile and free of conceit
As nice a person as one could wish for to meet
...

Years ago in the nineteen fifties she was the young Rose of Rathmore
Until the yearn for travel took her to live on a foreign shore
To the United States of America and the great City of New York
From her Hometown in east Kerry quite close to the border of Cork
...

With short hair dyed black and skin of chestnut brown
She sat on a park bench in Maryborough Town
With quite an attractive face that one would not easily forget
She blew smoke as she puffed on a cigarette
...

I knew of her when she was in her life's full bloom
In her early twenties the Rose of Macroom
With brown eyes and wavy shoulder length hair of brown
A woman of quite rare beauty of the old mid Cork Town
...

The memories of what was today are with me
She lives in my memory the Rose of Knocknagree
With hair to her shoulders wavy and brown
Dancing in the Star Ballroom in Millstreet Town
...

She left her Hometown in the Moyne Shire for places far away
The Lovely Rose of Koroit where might she be today
The wanderlust in her young mind for bigger towns and cities elsewhere
To appease her sense of adventure in the bigger World out there
...

From her Hometown in East Kerry does she live far away
The former Rose of Rathmore where might she be today?
The Pride of Sliabh Luachra four decades ago
But time it does become everybody's foe
...

She is The Rose of Tyrendarra in her life's bloom and prime
Her sort always the subject of song, story and rhyme
Light brown hair to her shoulders and eyes blue as ripened sloes
A beautiful young woman and blooming like a rose
...

On the grass her petals the last red rose of the Fall
As decaying food for insects destined to crawl
For as long as they live like the rose they too will die
The fate of the insects and the rose is the fate of you and i
...

The finest in Port Fairy for her age maybe
Though everyone with this may well not agree
Since beauty is in the eyes of the beholder as the wise one does say
And that beauty has many faces does seem this way
...

She told me she come from England from England far away
And that in Liverpool on Mersey side she spent her childhood days
And that she has spent most of her life here in Australia 'I'm quoting what she say'
And I'd like to get to know her better but then I never may.
...

There's years of sorrow in her eyes those eyes as blue as sloes
And her hair once dark is now quite gray she has a flattened nose
She's known the wrath of angry man she took his angry blows
But she once was young and beautiful the battered widow Rose.
...

She told me how her father worked as a coalminer
In Wonthaggi in South Giuppsland years ago
Deep in the mine shaft tunnelling and digging
The work was rough and hard and progress slow.
...

Rose from Bairnsdale lives and works in inner Melbourne
A four hour drive from her beloved Hometown
And from ground floor office from where she works in Collins Street
She hears the traffic passing up and down.
...

In her prime years her shoulder length hair like ripe chestnut was wavy and brown
In her twenties the beautiful young rose of old Terang Town
But in years this is going back some three decades ago
And time as we know becomes everyone's foe
...

Good memories remain to her a source of joy
Of when she was the young Rose of old Lisnaboy
When her shoulder length dark hair had a glossy sheen
Some of the bigger World out there since then she has seen
...

With eyes blue as ripened sloes and wavy shoulder length hair of chestnut brown
Years ago the young Rose of the old mountain town
A widowed grandmother in light brown hair dye she cloaks her gray
And clearly she has known a far better day
...

From Casterton in Victoria she lives far away
With hair dyes and hair tints does she hide her gray?
With shoulder length dark hair and lovely eyes of brown
She was a former Rose of Casterton Town.
...

A thing of great beauty that has gone to decay
On the grass it's petals are crinkled and dry where they lay
As food for ground insects by their thorny mother tree
In time all beauty does fade is how it seems to be
...

From her Hometown by Tower Hill she lives far away
The Rose of Koroit is in the U S of A
Of any ties in life to travel she is free
Near her physical prime she is twenty three
...

Her hair is as dark as the wing of a crow
The girl from the place where the old Hopkins flow
Brown skin and brown eyes with a beautiful face
To Australia's first people her lineage she can trace
...

The Rose of Koroit where might she be today
Some say she's in Sydney or in Byron Bay
Or in the Sunshine Coast of Queensland bronzed from the tropical sun
When you are only twenty two life can be so much fun
...

The last rose of Autumn has gone to decay
Her petals on the grass by her mother tree lay
The last rose on her tree she bloomed in the Fall showers
One might say of her a queen amongst flowers
...

Her eyes were as blue as the November sloes
The former Rose of Banteer was a beautiful Rose
And her shoulder length hair was as brown as the ripe chestnut of the Fall
In the Duhallow Village the fairest of all.
...

Saw her once in the Duhallow Town of Newmarket and the memory with me remain
Of her dark wavy hair to her shoulders tossing in the wind and rain
I was just a teenage lad then she would have been near her life's prime
In May in the early sixties this is going way back in time
...

With brown shoulder length wavy hair and eyes blue as ripened sloes
Years ago she was known as East Warrnambool's Rose
Before she was married back in her life's prime
The divorced grandmother showing the wear of time
...

With eyes as blue as a cloudless sky and shoulder length hair of chestnut brown
She lives far south of the Allow the Rose of Kanturk Town
Warrnambool in Victoria thousands of miles south of her Hometown in Duhallow
The beautiful young woman from North Cork does have the inner glow
...