February In Duhallow

The Boggereagh Ranges not on view today
Behind the gray rain fog well hidden away
Streams, drains and rivers flowing bank high in flood waters of brown
And from the overcast sky the rain drizzling down
February in Duhallow a cold and wet time of year
When birdsong is something one never does hear
The cattle in farmyard sheds bellowing for silage or hay
Their first bite of grass from them two months away
With young cubs to feed and small creatures hard to kill
At night the hungry fox barking in the field by the hill
And hungry birds searching for food in every backyard
In Winter weather on every wild-born creature life is so hard
And eight weeks or more till the nesting birds sing
In the leaf budding groves in the mildness of Spring.