Francis Duggan Deceased Poems

We know when animals are not feeling well
Though of how they feel to us they cannot tell
And people do grieve when their pets do die
The story of a four legged friend is not based on a lie.
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Deceased in name only our deceased friends not gone
From us forever in our memories they live on
As long as the faculty of memory we retain
Our departed friends not truly deceased with us they remain
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The deceased characters of Millstreet Parish among the dead may lay
But in Duhallow around the Cork and Kerry border memories of them live today
Distinctive individuals they had ways of their own
And as characters in their own lifetimes they were loved and well known
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Of some long deceased people I have known nice things I cannot say
Since when living they did not use their power on a fair or good way
Of any good stories of them I do not have to tell
Perhaps they are not now where angels do dwell
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When i am of the deceased some who did know of me
May say he was a rhymer one of the ordinary
For many years of his life he was a rhyming buff
And he was one of those who wrote reams of rhyming stuff
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Though in the cemetery at Tower Hill their last remains lay
The old deceased sporting legends of Koroit are at rest today
In the memories of those who knew or knew of them they are living on
Though the last breath of life from them it has long gone
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In the living flesh i will not see them again
But mental images of them until death i will retain
In memory i see and talk to them every day
To me they have not died they have just gone away
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The names of many famous deceased people we may see fit to celebrate
But some were ignored in their life-times and recognition for them came too late
The artist Vincent Van Gogh one example in his lifetime a stranger to fame
Today his paintings are worth millions he died without a penny to his name.
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His children and his women at odds with each other over his billions today
But all is quiet and peaceful where at rest his bones lay
He did not make a will in itself that's not rare
But not everyone dies as a known billionaire
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In the shade of the boughs of a sycamore tree
Far inland from the ocean shore of a country town cemetery
Surrounded by quietness at peace he now lay
From the sea side village he grew up in far so far away
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Such beautiful poems to Nature they did write
The poetry we love for to read and recite
May they rest in peace now where-ever they lay
The deceased poets of Nature their poems live today
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