Francis Duggan Poems

Bob Justice was an old pipe smoking fellow
And outside his shop on Main Street Millstreet Town
He and his sister May often sat talking
Whilst he greeted people passing up and down.
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The man who once owned the farm
He passed on last year
Gone for forever more
But the land still here.
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John had a happy childhood in Wonthaggi and he seems very happy to recall
Cape Paterson where he often played beach cricket and the Thaggi Oval where he played football
He swam and frolicked in the sea in Summer and his young years were free of any care
But like many others Melbourne to him beckoned and he was destined to live his life there.
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On the willow tree on the bank by where the old screw creek flow
The gold billed blackbird fluting his tunes soft and mellow
His ancestors were brought here a few centuries ago
But of the Lands they came from he would not even know.
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When you hear one talk of their Country that person has surely got it wrong
Since the Country you lay claim to is not yours but to the Country you belong
The World was here before we came and the World will be here when we have gone
And the Country without us will exist and life without us will go on.
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Never believe what any Government Minister tell you for on misinformation politicians seem to thrive
They are expert at spreading of propaganda and without deception they would not survive
They create wars and give rise to racism and they know how to make an enemy
And they mostly to blame for mistrust that leads to hatred and for a lack of World harmony.
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I fancy I can hear cock chaffinch singing
On hawthorn white with blossoms of the May
His wife in nest of brown moss on her eggs sit
In fork of tree from prying eyes hid away.
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He never may climb on the old hill again
Or hear the birds sing in the wind and the rain
As time is running out on him it does appear
But he is not unhappy death he does not fear
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What i pen to some is doggerel and to others rhyme
And some even tell me I'm wasting my time
In persisting on keeping on penning such stuff
When my best will never be quite good enough
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Joe Buckley was a good man and in him nothing small
For Millstreet and Slanan Rovers he played Gaelic football
And for the Millstreet Athletic Club he was a famed athlete
One of the great all rounders to come out of Millstreet.
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