Where I Was Raised

Where i was raised i heard many stories of nineteen sixteen
And the brave men shot to death for the gold, white and green
On Winter nights by old men around the peat fire
Of such stories back then i never could tire

In Easter nineteen sixteen in Dublin under a British firing squad they died
And true courage of them hardly can be denied
But Ireland's enemy back then is no longer her foe
And all of this happened a long time ago

Where I was raised many heroes of Gaelic Football
And many of them have lived their final Fall
And the rest are aging their best days long gone
But where i was raised life as usual goes on

Where i was raised was home to many a marvelous athlete
And against the best in the World they did compete
But time on them it did have the final say
And not many of them are living today

Where i was raised in late Spring and every Summer night
The corncrakes in the meadows could be heard in the moonlight
But long before i departed for a foreign shore
The voices of the migrant rails was heard no more

From where i was raised i live thousands of miles away
And time has left me feeling weary and gray
For me like all others a last night and day
And in the bosom of Nature my last remains will lay.