Francis Duggan August Poems

I am one lucky person in truth i can say
In the beauty i see around me very day
The flora and fauna i do not pay to see
The beauty in Nature everywhere around me
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August in the Moyne Shire in the wind and the rain
The tiny frogs singing in every pond and drain
Late Winter and early Spring their breeding time of year
And they sing to tell of rain and when rain is near
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An August day in Illowa pleasant for the time of year
The warbling of the magpies always a joy to hear
A Winter sun is shining in a sky of blue and gray
For the time of year and Season it is quite a nice day
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The day it is drizzly and windy and cool
And the low clouds are grey over old Warrnambool
The chill of late Winter in the freshening coastal breeze
On a weather temperature high for the day of fourteen degrees
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The sun behind the gray clouds is hidden away
But the paddocks are green in old Yangery today
And the magpies are warbling on the tall gum trees
Their familiar music is carrying in the breeze
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Two miles from the Village of Cullen in the parish of Millstreet
Where the rivers of Araglen and Blackwater do meet
The barn owl out hunting in the moonlight
Flying on silent wings a predator of the night
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The first of September and the southern calendar Spring only two sleeps away
In the sunlit park such a beautiful day
Not too warm or cool with a gentle breeze
In near to perfect weather temperatures of around sixteen degrees
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Rain drizzling from a sky that is sunless and gray
For August one can say a typical day
Less than a month from the first of the calendar southern Spring
The white backed magpies in the parkland does sing
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Up to the cloud World of the blue and gray sky
The larks with the sun on their brown wings do sing as they fly
On the calm of the evening of a nice August day
The memory of such beautiful scenery a lifetime to stay
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Undulating paddocks to the cliffs of the sea
Green beauty is everywhere all around me
Bright yellow flowers cloaking every wattle tree
In Illowa in August such great beauty to see
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The nest building male songbirds do whistle and sing
In less that two weeks from the southern calendar Spring
But the cool dampness of Winter is in the chilly breeze
Though new leaves are beginning to bud on some of the deciduous trees
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The sun in the gray clouds is hidden away
On what is a calm though chilly August day
In the Lake of Tower Hill the breeding frogs sing
On just twenty days from the calendar Spring
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The weather though dry a typical August day
The sun in the gray clouds is hidden away
Yet the bird who does sing every day of the year
The flute like song of the magpie is always pleasant to hear
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A cool moonless night just a few visible stars in the sky
The masked lapwing cry in the parkland nearby
For the safety of their young from predators they have reason to fear
On a night in late Winter near the Spring of the year
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In Lake Pertobe Park close to Lady Bay
The silver billed magpie is piping today
And though behind the gray clouds the sun hidden away
The calendar Spring is not that far away
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The night cold and dark few cars pass up and down
On the dimly lit streets of the old country town
And a boobook owl calls out mopoke in the parkland nearby
To small birds the one who has death in it's cry
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The gray fog is stealing down the Boggeraghs again
And the tall trees are soughing in the wind and the rain
It is raincoat weather the sky looking gray
The sun may not shine in Duhallow today
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A bright full moon shines in the starlit sky
And the hunting fox on the high paddock does cry
And mopoke mopoke the voice of the boobook owl in the still air echoes clear
In mid August on late Winter near the Spring of the year
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The sun it is hidden behind clouds of gray
But the magpies are singing in Illowa today
And the magpie larks calling in their familiar pee wee
Familiar Australians one often hear and see
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In the rushy fields just west of Millstreet Town
Old Finnow flowing bank high in flood waters of brown
And stormwater gurgling in the roadside drain
From heavy and thundery mid August rain
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The sky overcast looking gloomy and gray
It is cool, windy and raining in Koroit today
A forecast high of seven and a low of zero degrees
And water dripping off of the branches of the Parkland trees
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The hidden frogs sing in the watery drain
And the gray clouds of evening are pregnant with rain
The day it is cool just eleven degrees
And the currawongs calling on the higher trees
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Far north of here even as the bird does fly
Perhaps fifteen thousand kilometers of sky
Even distant inland from Hibernia's Shore
The high mountain fields of old Claramore
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The wattles are laden with bright yellow flowers
And the magpies are piping in the cool wintery showers
In the first week of August with Spring ever near
To the Pacific Lands of the southern hemisphere,
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The day Australia forever lost it's sense of a fair go for all
In years and decades from now historians will recall
When John Howard the then Australian P M brought politics into play
By not allowing a Norwegian ship with hundreds of rescued refugees to dock from Countries far away.
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A sight of great natural beauty to behold
The wattles cloaked in their flowers of yellow to gold
And though the sun it is hidden behind clouds of gray
The calendar Spring only four weeks away
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Late August the Spring less than two weeks away
Weatherwise so far it has been a changeable day
This morning 'twas raining but now there's sunshine
The rest of the day may be pleasant and fine
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A gray fog all but shrouds the tall mountain ash trees
And there is a chill in the wintery breeze
In August in Olinda a cold time of year
Though Spring to the hills it is drawing ever near
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Despite the coldness in the wintery showers
The flowering gum she wears her bright red flowers
Stormwater gurgling in the roadside drain
And rainbow lories chirping in the rain
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The sky overcast the rain comes down in drizzle August the thirtieth the date of today
This time tomorrow yes this time tomorrow Spring will be just a few hours away
Some birds are nest building others on their eggs sitting male magpie is piping on the stringybark tree
At this time of year he attacks without warning even humans who venture near his territory.
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The weather rather chilly it is cold enough to snow
And the flat paddocks under water where the Powlett river overflow
And even in the distance one can hear the ocean roar
As the tide up the beach races and splash on rocks along the shore.
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A warm August day in old Duhallow far north of here and miles away
And swallows high o'er sunlit meadows scenting sweetly of mown hay
And songbirds silent on the hedgerows in Summer you seldom hear them sing
they always pipe their finest in the prime months of the Spring.
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From Claramore the rill in flood flow brown
Through Claraghatlea a mile from Millstreet Town
And dark to gray rain clouds across the sky
Tell that more heavy showers of rain are nigh.
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In the moonlit park the spur winged plover trilling
As above his breeding territory he fly
And territorial brush tail possums hiss and bicker
And boobook owl calls on the gums nearby.
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The smoke from the chimneys curled down in the sky
And it's colder and wetter than 'twas in July
And fog o'er the forest a blanket of gray
And darkening rain clouds more showers on the way.
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