Fifteen Years Out Here How Quick The Time Has Gone Poem by Francis Duggan

I've spent fifteen years out here how time does fly
And here in Australia bird nesting season nigh
But in Ireland since another Spring gone by
And a flight ticket back home I could not afford to buy.

I vowed to myself that I'd go home last Spring
In May when skylark o'er the moorland sing
But money scarce so here I had to stay
And I could not go home to greet the May.

This morning early a crimson rosella I see
Go into hole halfway up old gum tree
Her pale grey eggs she has commenced to lay
A sign that Spring can't be too far away.

Back home the young swallows have left their nest
And for the next six weeks for them there's little rest
Above the fields they fly around and round
To strengthen their wings for their trip to wintering ground.

Fifteen years out here how quick the time has gone
And still the days and weeks keep racing on
And I must save up now for that holiday
And go back home next year to greet the May.