On Duhallow Today

The Boggeragh Hills in rain fogs hidden away
And the sky overcast and looking quite gray
The cattle in the farm sheds are bellowing for silage or hay
The sun will not shine on Duhallow today

A cold wind from Sliabh Luachra above the fields blow
And the stream bank high to the river in brown flood waters flow
In January a time of year when nothing does grow
And the weather even seems too cold for to snow

The chackling calls of gray headed jackdaw
And on the leafless tall trees the hungry rooks caw
In the bare groves a singing bird one does not hear
On what is for beast and for bird a hungry time of year

On the bare hedgerow the chirping of the migratory redwing
They always head north to breed in their breeding woods in the Spring
Twelve weeks in time from the first day of May
The sun will not shine on Duhallow today.