A Long Way North

A long way north of where i now live Koroit near Warrnambool
In Millstreet Town in Duhallow i was dunce of the school
Many Seasons before i grew into a man
Well over fifty years ago in time quite a span

And in anyone's language that is a long time ago
Many Seasons before time did become my foe
The boy of the fifties is aging today
And feeling the wear of physical decay

Where from a boy into a man i had grown
Today by many i would not be known
But the old fields i loved to me would look the same
As they did i recall some of them had their own given name

Today a stranger in Claraghatlea and Claramore
Far north of this Town by the southern shore
Absence makes the heart grow fonder some do like to say
But the nostalgia for what was with me did not stay

But in fancy i do hear the silver tongued rill
That does have it's source in the field by the hill
Babbling to the river to the sea far away
In a voice that is never still by night or day

And when the soft winds of April in the old fields do blow
Hidden in the rushes the male pheasant crow
Having sex with the female the only part in parenting he does play
He is an absent father of him one might say

Since i left my first home-place many Seasons have gone
But life there as usual today does go on
And the swallows return home to breed in the Spring
The workings of Nature is an amazing thing.