Francis Duggan

Home of brown trout, wild duck, otters, moorhens and the shy and elusive water rails
The River of three names Annagloor, Kales or Cails
From it's birthplace in the high Lake of Kippagh it journeys on down
To join the Finnow just west of Millstreet Town... more »

The river that flows to the great ocean shore
Flows under the bridge of the road to Rathmore
Through Duhallow to Mallow it journeys on down
To flow into salt water by old Youghal Town.... more »

It flows from the foot of Mt Baw Baw through many a Yarra Valley Town
The waterway known as the Yarra the river that flows upside down
It deepens and crawls at a snail's pace through Melbourne it always looks a muddy gray
The river that flows bottom to top I only quote what others say.... more »

It is a vast body of water a wonder of Nature to see
The river that is known as the Hopkins through Warrnambool crawls to the sea
From a very humble beginning into a vast waterway it does grow
As near to the shores of the Pacific at a slow snail's pace it slowly does flow... more »

By woodlands and through grasslands and places where rank scrub grow
The river to the ocean forever will flow
On it's sea going journey it receives the waters of drain, creek, brook and rill
The river born as a stream in the lake by the hill... more »

On through Ballydaly west of Millstreet Town
The road into Kerry does wind up and down
In view of the Boggeraghs the hills old in time
For years they have been the inspiration of the writers of song, story and rhyme... more »

The road of life that leads one to nowhere is the roadway that i am on
The twilight clouds on my life gathering my better years in the long gone
To grow old far south of my first homeplace perhaps in my life's destiny
The things in life that does mean much to many are not that important to me... more »

The grey shrike thrush pipes in the sunshine on a branch of a silky oak tree
And on the beach I can hear the gulls calling from the road that leads down to the sea
On this beautiful evening in September as we near the prime of the Spring
The familiar song of the blackbird to it has an exquisite ring.... more »

I've driven on it many times before
The road that leads from Millstreet to Rathmore
That through green old Ballydaly winds it's way
Perhaps I'll drive on it again one day.... more »

The baby rosellas chirping in their nest hole high in a standing log
Far distant from Sliabh Luachra and the road to Barna Bog
The road she often walked on back in her younger years
Though for the past or what has been she doesn't have any tears.... more »

The years creeps up on me I'm almost three score
And I live many miles from the road to Rathmore
The road to Sliabh Luachra of cultural renown
Towards the Cork-Kerry border out of Millstreet Town.... more »

Around Cullen and Kiskeam and old Millstreet Town
The roads of Duhallow do wind up and down
By the Cork Kerry border near Rathmore to Ballydesmond and up to Knocknagree
In a green countryside known for it's great scenery... more »

Of course I know that the past is gone forever
But in the past the seeds of our lives are sown
And I still have memories of a Childhood close to Nature
And from those good memories happiness has grown.... more »

The roads of life keep winding up and down
They take us to obscurity and renown
It is a journey we must undertake
And along the way there's joy and there's heartbreak.... more »

The roadway from Belgrave to Emerald is narrow and twisty and high
And the tall gums that border it in Selby they almost seem to touch the sky
A dangerous road for to drive on for people who dare to drive fast
Their luck finally runs out on them good luck never does seem to last... more »

I am on the roadway of life that will lead me to nowhere
And the roadway of life to nowhere never takes one to anywhere
I was nearer to the town of life's success in my physical prime
And this is going back the Seasons some four decades in time... more »

Before the first skylark did take to the wing
And in the clouds above his breeding grounds did sing
And before the first flowers bloomed in the warmth of Spring
The rumble of the ocean was a familiar thing... more »

Oh have you ever been to the Rock Wine Bar
Where Rocker Joe plays on his loud guitar
And drunken young men and women too drunk for dancing are noising loudly until closing time at two
And 'tis almost three before the street is noiseless when staggering homewards goes the last yahoo,... more »

The role models of my boyhood years with the departed lay
By Cashman's hill near Millstreet Town far north and far away
From this great Southern Country where I grow old and gray
The memory of their goodness remain with me today.... more »

From Murray Bridge to the suburbs the road winds up and down
And the rolling hills of Adelaide have never looked so brown
A humid evening in autumn around 23 degrees
The sun is clouded over and scarce a puff of breeze.... more »

The Romans name for it was Hibernia the Country now known as Ireland
Which translated means 'The Place Of Winter' which is not hard to understand
As the Romans went to there in Winter when frost and snow was on the ground
The Romans did not stay long in Ireland in history evidence of this to be found... more »

The rose she has gone back to Nature
Her petals on the grass by her mother tree lay
But memories of her blooming in the sunshine
With me till my own end will stay.... more »

She lived by the roadway that leads to Rathmore three miles west of old Millstreet Town
Her eyes were as blue as ripe November sloes and her wavy shoulder length hair brown
The Rose of Ballydaly lovely to behold down to earth and charming in her sweet way
Though she is now many years past her life's prime young in my memory she does stay... more »

Have the years left their mark on her with dye does she hide her gray
The Rose of Caherbarnagh where might she be today?
When I was a schoolboy in the fifties she was eighteen or nineteen
A beautiful young woman as fine as I've ever seen... more »

In her prime years her hair was chestnut brown
The beautiful lady of old Cobden Town
But she is aging in quite a graceful way
Her shoulder length hair it is wavy and gray... more »