I May Never Again Poem by Francis Duggan

I may never again see the fields of Millstreet
And people i have known there i may never more meet
Old Claraghatlea i have not seen for twenty six years
Though for what has been i have shed all of my tears

The Seasons go by i am running out of time
More than three decades have passed since i was in my life's prime
In Claraghatlea nowadays my first old homeplace
Mine to many there would be a stranger's face

Though the changes are happening in Millstreet and in Millstreet Town
In view of old Clara in it's face of brown
The old fields i loved would look much the same
Some of them i recall had their own given name

Though great change is occurring in the World of today
The now is all that matters as some like to say
Yet in fancy i can hear the male chaffinch sing
On a leafy silver birch tree in the prime of the Spring

And the song of the dipper where Finnow waters flow
Through old fields where rushes in clusters do grow
The past may be gone but the memories remain
With me of an old place i may never see again

Claraghatlea in Millstreet from here far away
Where to many i would be a stranger today
And the past just a memory to the forever gone
And time does not wait and life does go on.