Only Memories Of What Was

Only memories of what was in me now remain
Perhaps i will never see Duhallow again
Or in March hear the frogs croak in a flooded drain
The sights and sound of the past are all i have to retain

The great gift of memory is a wonderful thing
In fancy i walk in the old fields on an evening in Spring
As the nesting birds sing on the bushes and trees
Their music is carrying in the freshening breeze

When the hawthorns are cloaked in their white blossoms of May
Such a beautiful memory a lifetime to stay
And the fields lush and green after the recent showers
Are looking resplendent in their Nature's flowers

I only have memories of the beauty i have seen
In the old fields i loved that were always so green
In reality to me today they would look much as they were the same
Some of them i knew by their given name

Like me from their homeplace ageing far away
Some of the people i knew in Duhallow did not stay
And some where the deceased are forever do lay
Time takes care of all as the wise one does say

I left old Duhallow when the chill winds did blow
And the Boggeraghs were in their December hats of snow
But going back the years this now seems long ago
And time that ages most things has become my foe.