When Last I Saw Clara Poem by Francis Duggan

When last I saw Clara two decades ago
On a Winter's day he wore his hat of snow
And few people were shopping in Millstreet Town
And on the Main Street few cars passed up and down.

The birds they were silent in the windswept hedgerow
And the Finnow bank high in the old fields did flow
The babies back then are now close to their prime
And I have grown older and greyer with time.

In early December the year was growing old
When last I saw Clara the weather was cold
I did not return as the swallows in Spring
When deciduous trees don new greenery and songbirds do sing.

The rain drizzled down on a cold Winter's day
When last I saw Clara from here far away
The wanderlust in me I was leaving Homeground
And for distant and sunnier climes I was bound.