A Migrant From Sliabh Luachra Poem by Francis Duggan

He is from the place of the silver back crow
And the hills where the gorse, heather and bracken grow
On land too rough and high for the plough around every stone
Near Rathmore in east Kerry by the Paps of Shrone.

He migrated to Victoria in nineteen sixty one
His oldest grand-daughter has a two year old son
His wife is an Aussie and their children and she
The Sliabh Luachra countryside has yet for to see.

But his Sliabh Luachra accent he does retain
Till the moment he dies with him it will remain
Almost fifty years in Australia that is going back in time
Since he left his old Homeplace in his life's budding prime.

You ask him does he miss Sliabh Luachra and to you he will say
I think of it often though not every day
But I love Australia of that I won't lie
And here I am happy to live and to die.