Francis Duggan Poems

I won't be complaining things are not so bad
And I'll always be glad for the good times I've had
And i won't be complaining about my lot in life
In my own little world good luck it is rife
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Tis cold back there this evening in the fields of Claramore
And the chilly winds of December across old Clara roar
And it coming up to Christmas a festive time of year
And on the streets of Millstreet carol singers one does hear.
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He will never be looked on as one worthy of note
And he will always be an unfashionable poet
Though he has penned many a come all ye song
To the masses his type cannot hope to belong,
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And what if i cark it tomorrow life without me will surely go on
And i will have had a good innings my better days will be long gone
I've had a go at slipshod rhyming and I've penned my share of doggerel
And I've seen three score years of Summers in that way i have done quite well.
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He worked hard for a livelihood and he never sought renown
And he was loved by many in Duhallow's Millstreet Town
The quiet man Neilly Collins back to Mother Earth has gone
But good memories of a gentle soul in Millstreet will live on.
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The Winters dry and chilly and very little rain
And the Summers warm and windy in dry old Castlemaine
In the bare and brown paddock the windblown dust is flying around
And the thirsty one el nino sucks all moisture from the ground,
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They tell us what we want to hear
And them we do want to believe
We leave our thoughts open to fear
By trusting those who love to deceive.
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We still have the words that were born of his soul
The poet and the visionary James Russell Lowell
He was one of the finest bards of his time
A poet of the masses in the great age of rhyme.
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Society will not forget him for what he has done
But we ought to remember he is some mother's son
And though he will be in jail for a very long time
His mum does not love him less despite his terrible crime,
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Her hair is quite gray she looks withered and old
But the story of her life it ought to be told
And she is one who was not born to win
But the one to cast the stone should be one free of sin.
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