Of Wine I Had One Too Many Poem by Francis Duggan

Of Wine I had drunk at least two litres for one of my age that's not wise
Alcohol in the mind of the migrant to feelings of nostalgia gives rise
Nostalgia for friends and for family that I had not seen for many years
The only migrant amongst many Aussies my sense of manly pride helped me to hold back the tears

That yearned to flow for Millstreet in Duhallow and my old home Parish from here far away
Nostalgia remains in every migrant despite the wear of time's decay
For friends and family and relations and Claraghatlea my old home-place
Perhaps now I would be a stranger where mine once was a well known face.

I thought I was over nostalgia but thought again had proved me wrong
The alcohol helped to resurface something that had been dormant for so long
In fancy I could see old Clara his summit shrouded in the fogs of rain
The past it may be gone forever but the good memories with us remain.

Of wine I had drunk one too many it stirred up the nostalgia in me
For faces and places of the past that in memory I only now see
The past is behind us forever to the father of time we must bow
And we all hope for a better future but we can only live in the now.