Arthur O' Keeffe

For years he lived with his wife  Peg where they raised their son John and daughter Peg in Millstreet Town's Minor Row
A down to earth quiet fellow though many of him did know
A family man devoted to his family and to his wife
Arthur O' Keeffe lived in Millstreet Town all of his life

Back in the  nineteen fifties Arthur was in his prime
And that is going back many decades in time
And  eventually time to all of us does become the foe
As the Seasons to our lives do come and do go

Arthur's association with Millstreet Town his lifetime did span
Though i do remember him when he was a young man
Tall, well built and handsome his hair was dark brown
One familiar then to everyone in Millstreet Town

From his old home in Minor Row just a short walk away
In St Mary's by Cashman's Hill his last remains lay
From Arthur O' Keeffe's mortal body the  breath of life may have gone
But good memories of the good man he was will live on.

The Old Shearer Joe

Old Joe the ex shearer his hair silver gray
One who surely has  known a far better day
In shearing sheds on the east side of the great Southern Land
Respect as a shearer he used to command

But this is going back a  few decades ago
And time is  beginning to tell on old Joe
In the pub he tells  of his travels and shearing days going back in time
To when he  was a mighty man in his life's prime

In a brief sexual affair he did father a son
Who is now a middle aged father he is forty one
His son and grandchildren he seldom does see
Not the family sort is how he seems to be

In his  early eighties the  man who has lived in and worked in many a place
The wrinkles of time on his craggy face
He was a gun shearer many decades ago
But all he has now are memories the old shearer Joe.

Since Last I Saw Them

Since last i saw them twenty seven years gone by
But on looking back on the past time does seem to fly
Like me time would have left them looking older and gray
My friends of the past where might they be today?
Perhaps some of them in Millstreet did choose for to stay
And like me from there some of them live further away
Amongst people i have known any two i could not name
Whose life journeys have been exactly the same
God memories of them are mine to recall
With them i socialized and played football
But some of the bigger World out there for me waiting to be seen
As the wise one did say the far of hills look green
They were my friends in the past of the past now  long gone
And life all around me as usual goes on.

If Because Of You

If because of you the World to live in is a better place
And you meet the challenges of life with a smile on your face
And you help a poor person in need of helping without asking for pay
Of the good things we do in life we receive in good Karma one day
People who help poor people never even know  of local renown
Compassion and empathy never does make one  a toast of the town
But what matter of the needs of others you are one who is aware
And people like you are and were always rare
Of living a good life you have managed to succeed
And of more of your kind the Human World is in need
For those doing it tough you can feel sympathy
They are rare gifts indeed compassion and empathy
And since of the selfish gene you are one who is free
With more like you in it how much better the Human World to live in would be.

Old Merri

On a tree in a paddock near where old Merri flow
I hear the harsh cawing of a  dark pale eyed crow
One of a corvid species that is widely known
It is true about crows they have ways of their own

A waterway that has flowed forever and will flow forever more
Old Merri flows onwards to the Pacific shore
In and out of Lake Pertobe and  on to Lady Bay
It flows on by Warrnambool every night and day

By the Merri on warm Summer evenings long gone in the shade of the trees
The local indigenous tribes had their corroborees
They danced their last dance by the old  waterway
A beauty lost forever this seems sad to say

But old Merri that has inspired story and rhyme
Flows on to the sea through the Seasons of time
And the past cannot be changed it is in the forever gone
But the old waterway to the ocean flows on

Long before the first people to the Southern Land came
Old Merri the river then without a name
Flowed on to the ocean from it's source far away
Through the  flat coastal country by night and by day.

The Beauty In Wisdom

The physical beauty of youth is quick to decay
And many as they age use hair dyes and cosmetics to hide signs of aging away
But the beauty in wisdom that one  cannot visually behold
Does mature with age as the wise one grows old
The physical beauty in youth may be nice to look at in the eyes
But the beauty in wisdom only belongs to the wise
Though wisdom you can hear but never can see
And the wise sad to say are in minority
And though the wise may not be  famous and widely known
One can say of them in a class of their own
The people who learn from life every day
The wise always grow wiser as they grow gray
It is something one  can hear but never can see
But there is beauty in wisdom would you not agree?

Broadcasting A Lie

That time claims the wealthy and poor and the villiians and heroes cannot be denied
And the last surviving soldiers of World War 1 long since have died
The war supposed to end  all wars words are so easily said
Since nineteen eighteen millions of war dead
As long a there are human created borders and religion and cultural divisions war will be with us to stay
And more people are dying in conflicts every day
And the numbers of war refugees in their thousands does  grow
From war there is only death and suffering and sorrow  to show
In Patriotism, Nationalism and Racism the seeds of division are sown
I only state here what is already know
To many but people in war daily die
And those who tell us that war does lead to peace are broadcasting a lie.