Where Years Ago Poem by Francis Duggan

Where years ago mine was a familiar face
To many i would be a stranger now in my first home place
And those i knew getting older time does not stand still
In old Claraghatlea in view of Clara Hill
But the old fields i knew some by their given name
I'm sure despite my years of absence would look much the same
As the fields that i loved when i was a young man
When i was imbued with life's youthful elan
But youth and prime years pass quickly and few things in life do last
And the memories are all we have left to retain of the past
Back in my first home place today life goes on
And i can only physically live in the now since the past it has gone
But the memories of what used to be with me remain
And often in fancy i walk in the old fields again.