Mick Kelleher Will Never Be An Aussie Poem by Francis Duggan

Mick kelleher will never be an Aussie
He'll always be the man from far away
He still talks about Millstreet and Clara Mountain
And the groves and bogs and fields of Claraghatlea.

For thirty two years he's lived out of Ireland
And thirty two years seems a lengthy span
It's true you can take the man from the mountain
But you cannot take the mountain from the man.

He still talks of his boyhood years in Millstreet
And the friends he had as a primary school going boy
John Joe Daly, Denis Sweeney and Connie Hartnett
He will talk about them till the day he die.

He still talks about Lal Dennehy's pub in Millstreet
Where on visits home old friendships he did renew
With Johnny Murphy and the late Morty Cronin
I often hear him talk about those two.

Mick Kelleher's wife and children are Australian
And they are true to the Aussie green and gold
And though his best memories are of a small Northern Country
In this great Southern Land he will grow old.

Mick Kelleher will never be an Aussie
And the accent he brought with him with him stay
And though he has spent most of his life in Australia
He'll always be the man from far away.