Johnny Leary Poem by Francis Duggan

His music is still living though the musician has died
And is played by Sliabh luachra migrants far from their home countryside
The great Johnny Leary is no longer with us to the forever he has gone
But he has left us his music and his legend will live on
One of Sliabh Luachra's greatest and few anywhere as great as he
He is missed from Dan Connell's pub in the Village of Knocknagree
Where the dancers to his music often waltzed around the floor
And where every session ended with them begging for more
Not one living in Sliabh Luachra of him who would not know
In life he became a legend and in death his legend grow
Far from places such as Cullen and Gneeveguilla and the border Town of Rathmore
Tapes and c d's of his music played far from Hibernia's shore
In the annals of Irish traditional music his is a remembered name
And he lives on in spirit in Sliabh Luachra's Hall of Fame.