A Very Worthwhile Project

Fair dues to the year nine students and their teachers at Gilson College

The hooded plovers breeding territory they have fenced around

As the little shorebirds are known to be endangered

In large numbers they are not known to abound

Their project it is one well worth applauding

A part of the foreshore at Killarney Beach they've marked out

With signs to tell of the plovers breeding territory

Their's is a worthwhile project without doubt

The hooded plovers an endangered species

And young people interested on their welfare good to see

Every year their numbers dwindling in Killarney

Quite close to extinction those in the know agree

The thought of it does not even seem pleasant

To think that hooded plovers small birds of the ocean shore

In five or six decades from now may not be seen in Killarney

Extinction as we do know is forever more

The year nine students of Gilson College

As well as their teachers great credit are due

For being fully aware of the plight of the hooded plovers

I only say of them what i do know to be true.

The Wrong One For Advice

On me you are asking the wrong one for advice on the furthering of your literary career
Since i am one who writes just as a hobby as i already to you have made clear
And since you will not send what you write to be published on any free internet site
Perhaps you should send your manuscript to a publisher who may advise you or even publish what you did write
As you do know i am not a literary critic though the potential in your work not hard to see
In any case on what is good or not good writing those who claim to know do not always agree
The poet Robert Browning of this is a great example to publish his first book of poems he had to pay
In his lifetime he became a literary icon and his legend it is living on today
Why ask me one who writes for self enjoyment of good or bad writing i would hardly know
But since you've asked me for my frank opinion some promise as a writer you do show
Some of the critics out there may well criticize you and tell you as a writer you may never make the grade
The writer's life is not meant to be easy few know of success in the wordsmith trade
I hope you become a successful writer and i wish you wealth and happiness and fame
But if you do not send your manuscript to a publisher for yourself you will never make a name.

Even Those Who Do Not Like Me

Even those who do not like me or i do not like i do wish them well
Since on any ill feeling towards others i am not one to dwell
Life is too short for grudges let bygones be gone
The now is all that matters and time does tick on
As some like to say and it well may be true
We receive from life what is only our due
If you wrong somebody in any sort of way
To karma there will be some price for to pay
At least anyway that's how it seems to me
Though with my thinking on it many may disagree
I do not have a right to be anybody's judge
And against anybody i do not hold a grudge
On live and let live i am one who believe
And the Karma we sow for ourselves we receive.

He Talks Of Old Fields

He talks of old fields and woodlands far away
In Nova Scotia where he first looked on the light of day
The Winters were cold there the ice and the snow
But greenery returned when warmer winds of Spring did blow
Inland from the ocean and birds on bush and tree
Were singing and nest building and how lovely to see
The old fields resplendent in their wildflowers of the Spring
The creative powers of Nature an amazing thing
With Aussie children and grandchildren and an Aussie wife
Forty eight years in Australia he has spent of his life
He may never see Nova Scotia again
But nostalgia in him for the old Homeland does remain
Next June he will be seventy his best years long gone
And the clock on his life ever keeps ticking on.

November In Cullen

In Cullen in Duhallow where the Araglen waters flow
The cold winds of November across the old fields blow
Upon a naked beech tree a silver back hooded crow
Familiar in his harsh cawing on a day threatening to snow
Old Araglen bank high babbling through fields as old as time
That often inspired the long dead bards to story, song and rhyme
Learning about Nature as a youngster i used to enjoy
In my uncle Dan and aunt Mary's farm in Summer in Lisnaboy
Often in my visualizations the sweet scent of new mown hay
Coming from the sunlit meadows on a warm and sunny day
And dark winged barn swallows above the old fields fly
In the prime of the Summer in beautiful July
But in Cullen in Duhallow 'tis cold and damp today
Near the calendar Winter and Spring seems far away.

A Motley Lot

Us humans are a motley lot why otherwise pretend
A dog can be a man or a woman's best friend
Whilst some prefer the friendship of a horse or a sheep or a cat
Our trusted friendships seem varied quite varied at that
Even some human to human friendships over time do not last
And 'tis with bitterness we recall some of our ex friends of the past
Our friendship and love based on trust and conditions and it would seem to me
That the love and devotion of our pets to us of any conditions free
By our own sense of values till the day we die we live
And we only do receive from life what to life we do give
Your pet's love is unconditional devoted to you till the end
Till death he or she does remain to you an ever faithful friend
Without any conditions on their love for you until the day they do die
It is a fact i speak of here and facts do never lie.

Port Fairy In Late Spring

Young surfers ride the white waves of Port Fairy on a sunny though cool and windy day in late Spring
One sees them surfing in all sorts of weather the gift of youth it is a marvelous thing
Above the ocean din i hear a blackbird fluting his notes on foreshore tree nearby
At times the sun from view does become obscured as rain clouds gather in the evening sky
On late Spring Victoria is known to many as the State of four Seasons in one day
A spell of sunshine and then the sky clouds over which makes one sense that rain is on the way
A healthy part of the World for to live in where the weather never gets too wet and cold
In a Land of the most amazing flora and fauna where there is so much beauty to behold
The sooty oystercatchers softly piping low above the waves near the beach as they do fly
And the large black back gulls and the silver gulls distinctive in their appearance and their cry
Save for the surfers the beach on cool days mostly belong to Nature the winds blow on your face the ocean spray
Port Fairy is a nice place in any weather but at it's finest on a sunny day
And despite the spasmodic sunshine today is not the finest the gathering clouds tell rain to us is near
And above the the rumblings of the mighty surf waves a blackbird on a nearby tree i hear.