From My Walks In Nature

To say i know a lot on Nature would be to tell a lie
But i will be learning from her until the day i die
And every day about her i learn something new
Her wonders in the many and her secrets are not few
So many endangered species of land and water dwelling life forms in Nature's World today
Due to our environmental practices does seem quite sad to say
Creatures like the siberian tiger and the polar bear face an uncertain fate
To save them from extinction it may even be too late
For the future generations the Nature loving girl and boy
There may be few wild birds and animals left to look at and enjoy
That habitat destruction leads to extinction so happens to be true
We never pay to Nature the respect that she is due
The years have not left me wiser they have only left me gray
But from my walks in Nature i learn every day.

Amhran na bhFiann

Though i have not lived in Ireland for some twenty four years
Everytime i hear someone singing Amhran na bhFiann i do feel close to tears
Though i am not patriotic have never been in any way
The latent love of homeland remains in me today
The Irish National Anthem written by Peadar Kearney going back decades in time
A song i often heard sung in Ireland as a boy and in my life's prime
At big social gatherings and sporting occasions the anthem often sung
When i hear it now it takes me back to the days when i was young
Perhaps i'll never again see the wildflowers of the May
Or watch the swallows flying above the old fields far away
And due to absence the bond of friendship forged in younger years in time does not seem to last
But the anthem of the homeland takes every migrant to the past
Amhran na bhFiann or The Soldiers Song stirs the nostalgia in me
To think it had died a natural death shows how silly i must be.

Aussie Pale Eyed Crows

Not the prettiest to look at and they have a few foes
But they are known to many Aussie pale eyed crows
Or Australian Little Ravens which is their common name
To be good at surviving one of their claims to fame
Of human kind they have lost most natural fear
They don't take to the wing till to them you come near
Their voices familiar every day of the year
Their long drawn out cawing quite monotonous to hear
Like all corvids hardy and intelligent they know how to survive
In the harshest of environments their kind are known to thrive
In rubbish bins they scavenge for potato chips and scraps of meat
And in the town park lake i've seen them soak hard bread to eat
Birds i do like and i see and hear every day
Though nice things of them you won't hear many say.

You Very Well May Be

You very well may be a stranger to fame
With little money or material possessions to your name
One in life doing it tough on a very poor street
Working hard for low wages struggling to make ends meet
But you are not alone people like you everywhere
There are at least a billion in the big World out there
To meet someone poorer you need not travel far
There are many so many worse off than you are
Do not tell me about it i know life can be unfair
In a Human World where many grow poorer for every new millionaire
Since you seek the answer to why this should be
You'd best go and ask one more enlightened than me
Why many grow worse off for one for to gain
Is something that's way beyond me to explain.

The River Of Pigeons

A place to my thoughts that remains ever near
The River of Pigeons so far north of here
In fancy i can hear the nesting birds sing
When the old fields are in their wildflowers of the Spring.

By ditches and hedgerows by night and by day
The river from the hills ever babbles it's way
To the bigger rivers to the saltwater shore
In a voice destined to live on forever-more.

Where i grew to love Nature when i was a boy
And learning of her ways i still do enjoy
From Nature we learn something new every day
We never stop learning as some like to say.

The song of the robin in my thoughts i do hear
And the pipe of the song thrush melodious and clear
Does often come to me from fields far away
When the hawthorns are in their white blooms of the May.

Our links to the past beyond me to explain
And good memories of what was in us does remain
Till the Reaper claims the life from us whenever that will be
With what i say here many may well agree.

We live in the now and time ticking on fast
Though in our mind we retain our good times of the past
And with such happy memories how can i be poor
Of the River of Pigeons known as Annagloor.

Power It Can Corrupt

Power it can corrupt as some are known to say
And money can give rise to moral decay
Your word is your bond is practiced by too few
On saying this i am not saying anything new
Everyone for himself or herself and God for us all
A cynical truism that i sometimes recall
In the big business World of corporate crime and company fraud
The people of money society applaud
The materially rich scoundrels to say the least not rare
For those they leave financially poorer not one thought they do spare
Many of the people that many look up to are not squeaky clean
On saying in them room for improvement you know what i mean
To good people of all races credit is surely due
But that power can corrupt so happens to be true.

At The End Of Life's Journey

At the end of life's journey achievements mean nothing at all
To the scythe of the Reaper eventually we do fall
Our material and other successes to nothing amount
The Reaper does not take such things into account
Between human and non human he does not differentiate
The Reaper of lives never discriminate
He is not one who does respect success or fame
The life of the human and sheep he does treat as the same
At leading a good and moral life many do succeed
Though some in their need for material success become hijacked by greed
On what is a successful life everyone does not agree
What is success to you may not be so to me
We all look at life in a different way
And the Reaper on us does have the final say.