A Lot Of Men

A lot of men in my young years in Millstreet did like their sports and did enjoy their grog
And they shlauned peat to warm their family homes in Winter in early Summer in Gneeves mountain bog
Around their fire grates on nights in the depths of Winter current affairs were discussed and other things they did recall
Such as politics and sporting greats and of great teams and games of hurling and gaelic football
They told stories of the War of Independence in Sliabh Luachra and Duhallow such as the ambush at Tureengarriffe Glen
Of a battle celebrated and often written about of the bravery of Sean Moylan and his men
And of the civil war days in Ireland when many brothers even became foes
In a tragic time in the history of Ireland that only added to a Nation's woes
In Ireland the changes keep on happening on the first decade of the twenty first century
The black and Tan War and the Civil War are now an all but faded memory
And modern machinery harvests the peat in the high bogland of Gneeves today
And more changes come with every generation suppose that it has always been this way
And most of the grown men of my boyhood years now with the departed of the Parish lay
And the now is all that really seems to matter as those of wisdom have been known to say.