Old Debby Is Just One Example Poem by Francis Duggan

There is not any truth in the saying that only the good do die young
Old Debby she died in her eighties and her praises never were sung
On her own she raised her two sons and three daughters her husband Joe in an accident died
She had to work to raise her offsprings when of the family bread winner she was denied.

Her Joe a builder fell from a barn eighteen metres to a concrete floor
Of years he had much life left in him the reaper claimed him at forty four
The youngest of their children was six and the oldest only thirteen
Though on looking back on her hard life she never said hard times she had seen.

It surely would make a great story if the story of her life were told
She is one of many examples that the good too can live to be old
She happens to be one of many since her type have never been rare
Though we only applaud the elitist, the celebrity and the billionaire.

Old Debby is just one example and of course there are many more
Good people who live on to be old some of them beyond the four score
Some good people live to be over one hundred and some good people as teenagers die
And 'the good only die young' a saying that to reality does not apply