If I Return To Duhallow Poem by Francis Duggan

If I return to Duhallow it will have to be in Spring
When in the leafy groves and woodlands the nesting songbirds sing
For Spring in Duhallow is a lovely time of year
With the weather getting warmer and Summer days are near

In view of the Boggeragh Ranges the hills so old in time
They were even quite ancient when Fionn was in his prime
So many generations to life does come to and from go
But the mountains are forever and time never becomes their foe

When last I see Duhallow December winds blew chill
The mountain sheep down on the high fields from the bare bracken hill
The streams and rivers bank high in flood waters of brown
And from the sunless gray sky the rain was drizzling down

In evergreen Duhallow I first looked on the lamp of day
But that was many years ago and from here far away
To where I once was known to many now few would know of me
All I have left are the memories of the what used to be

If I return to Duhallow it will have to be in Spring
When the fields are decked with wildflowers and the nesting songbirds sing
And the hawthorns looking beautiful in their white blooms of the May
By the distant Boggeragh Ranges where I first saw light of day.