If Only In My Dreams Poem by Francis Duggan

I've left my Homeland Ireland but Ireland followed me
And every night I'm back there in Land beyond the sea
In dreams I'm back there every night I walk Jack Johnny's field
And climb up by the forest where grass to bracken yield.

I climb up Clara mountain the skylark leaves the ground
And o'er the silent hillside his happy voice resound
I gaze down on the valley Millstreet Town to my right
Surrounded by green country brightened by May sunlight.

From Millstreet into Kerry so many shades of green
Some thirty miles of countryside on clear day to be seen
My elder brother first brought me here on bright evening in
May
When I was just a young boy and in my childhood day.

I still remember that day the memory I retain
Of horned hill sheep with their lambs, those sheep look much the same
As the dark faced sheep I first saw on Clara hill so many years ago
On ageless Clara mountain the passing years doesn't show.

We leave our homes in Ireland in distant Land to stay
But Ireland is still with us though we live far away
And I still visit Ireland if only in my dreams
And gaze from Clara mountain on many shades of green.