A Parting Poem by Francis Duggan

By the alder tree in Finches Lane as the moon shone in the sky
The tears ran down her warm cheeks as she kissed her love goodbye
Tomorrow he'd be leaving home at the dawning of the day
For to meet the airport bus to take him to the plane for far away.

The sky was full of twinkling stars and in the wood nearby
A dog fox searching for a mate was uttering his love cry
And the babble of the river whose tongue is never still
In the stillness of the evening in the high field by the hill.

Those last goodbyes are hard to make as they hugged each other tight
I'll return to you my love he said and to you I'll phone and write
Then he walked her to her parents gate kissed her and left her there
With tears running down her lovely face and the wind in her brown hair.

Those last goodbyes are hard to make but such is life they say
Tomorrow he would be leaving at the dawning of the day
And he struggled to fight back the tears he felt the heartache in goodbye
And absence makes the heart grow fonder in their case will apply.