A Changed Land Today Poem by Francis Duggan

At the Shannaknock by road they often parked their horse drawn live in vans
Some of the born to wander members of the traveling clans
They were born to travel and on the roads they grew old
And at horse fairs by them horses were bought and sold

In the early sixties with the sharp increase in motorized vehicles their way of life did change
To see them in motor vans to say the least strange
But in life as is said few things one could name
That in the passing of time remains as the same

Traveling musicians and singers, tinsmiths and horse traders as well
Of their ways and travels so many stories one could tell
Their horse drawn live in vans never more to be seen at the Shannaknock cross
One of the changes time brought that became Ireland's loss

At the Shannaknock cross by their camp fire they played music, drank, sung and recited rhyme
And sad to say all of this was lost to time
But nothing lasts forever as the wise one did say
And the Ireland i was raised in is a changed land today.