The Past Has Gone Poem by Francis Duggan

The past has gone that much we know
The past is gone and lost forever
And in the past we cannot stay
Though from the past we cannot sever.

I too am one tied to the past
Where-ever to I go to the past does follow
It followed me south from the northern shore
Far from the ancient hills of old Duhallow.

In flights of fancy the high woods I see
And the lush green fields around Ballydaly
And the leafy groves of green old Claraghatlea
Where in the Spring the songbirds whistled gaily.

The clear stream from the heights of Claramore
Does scurry o'er the pebbles and the gravel
Swelled by the drains and rills that into it does flow
As onward to the river it does travel.

The past has gone and in it we physically cannot live
Though I like many to the past keep clinging
Many of the songs we sing are from the past
And 'tis of the past right now that I am singing.