A Memory Of What Was Poem by Francis Duggan

In pubs in the Town in view of Clara hill
They sung and re-sung the song Bold Thady Quill
In June when the flowers by Finnow were in bloom
And Millstreet had won a big game in Macroom

So many Seasons have come and gone since then
The girls and boys of the fifties now ageing women and men
And not all are living some with the deceased does lay
And some from Duhallow are ageing far away

Those were the days when we daydreamed of wealth and fame
To make for ourselves in the World a big name
There was a big World out there far beyond millstreet
And the green countryside where the waterways meet

And though some in Millstreet were quite happy to stay
Some others daydreamed of places far away
And we all had our dreams in those days long ago
of wealth and of fame before time became our foe

And the wildflowers in Summer on the graves do bloom
Of the young men back then who won fame in Macroom
And only the memories today does remain
Of what used to be and will not be again.