A Stranger In Millstreet

I cannot say that it does bring joy to me
To think that a stranger to most people in Millstreet i would be
A stranger to many where years ago i was well known
And where i would not be seen now as one of their own

Even in Claraghatlea where my life's journey began
Today many would say who is this strange old man
What brings him to here he looks so old and gray
He must have arrived from a place far away

Like home to the Roman will always be Rome
Millstreet to me it will always be home
Though i grow old under a far southern sky
My place of birth to anyone i would never deny

Far north of this sunny countryside near Warrnambool
A stranger in Millstreet where i went to school
Just a half an hour walk west of the Town of Millstreet
I still miss those old fields where the waterways meet

Many i knew in Millstreet not living there today
Some of them among the deceased does lay
And some like me in the Parish who did not choose to stay
From their first homes in Duhallow are aging far away

Perhaps on a Spring twilight in a field by old River Finnow
I will never more hear the soft lowing of a cow
When the male snipe above the bog in the darkening sky as he flies around
With his wings and tail makes a drumming sound

I would be a stranger to many in Millstreet today
And this for me does feel a sad thing for to say
But the now is all that does matter and life does go on
And at midnight this evening today will be gone.