A Long Way North Of Here

A long way north of here to fields near Millstreet Town
Where i penned my first rhymes when my hair was dark brown
Where from the high country by night and by day
Old Finnow to the Blackwater babbles on it's way

On my flights of fancy i hear the birds sing
In leafy groves of Millstreet on evenings in Spring
When the hawthorns are in their blooms of white to gray
And the old fields are wearing their flowers of the May

Where i grew to love Nature when i was a boy
And learning of her ways i still do enjoy
I still can memorize the babble of the rill
On it's way to the river from the field by the hill

And the song of the robin to foretell of rain
Old memories do visit me time and again
Where mine to many locals was a well known face
In Millstreet in Duhallow in my first homeplace

And for as long as the gift of memory with us remain
Old memories of what was are ours to retain
On Spring nights the male snipe with his wings and tail makes a goat like cry
As above the bogland on a courtship dispaly he does fly

In Claragahtlea in Millstreet in Duhallow my life's journey began
Though far south of there i do age as a man
And the memories of far places live on in me
Of Seasons long gone and of what used to be.