A Chance Meeting

Her short clipped wavy hair a natural gray
And though obviously she had known a better day
She remains quite attractive despite the passage of time
She must have been beautiful in her life's prime.

She said your accent bring back memories of my granddad to me
At twenty four he came to live in Australia in ninteen twenty three
From Ballydaly between the Towns of Millstreet and Rathmore
By all accounts a place far inland from Hibernia's shore.

Though I've never been to Ireland I hope to go there one day
And visit my late granddad's homeplace by the hills far away
I may even have blood relatives still living there
Or like granddad did maybe they went to live elsewhere.

He used to talk of Clara, Kippagh and Gortavehy with the face of stone
And old Caherbarnagh and Mushera and the Paps of Shrone
And the people who lived in his townland when he was a young man
When he was near his prime years and full of elan.

Her grandfather lived for to be an old man
In Ballydaly in Duhallow his life's journey began
Though she was surprised to learn that I came from Millstreet
It seems likely that her I will never more meet.