A Strange Place Phillip Island To Meet Woman From Kiskeam Poem by Francis Duggan

I spoke to her for half an hour but forgot to ask her for her name
This native of Duhallow from the village of Kiskeam
And that I came from Millstreet seemed to take her by surprise
I was first Duhallow person for years on which she had lain eyes.

She had her grandchild with her a fair haired freckled boy
I judged him to be eight or nine he seemed withdrawn and shy,
I said hello he did not smile he merely uttered 'hi'
And the only other word I heard him speak was when he said goodbye.

I judged her to be sixty years or sixty one or two
And she looked naturally beautiful and her eyes alert and blue
And her hair once brown she told me was now a natural gray
And she was ageing gracefully and in a natural way.

For Village where she was raised in she doesn't have any tears
I have not been back to that place for well over thirty years,
I last laid eyes on Kiskeam on a morning in July
The rain winds were blowing from the north and dark clouds in the sky.

I asked her did you know Sean Moylan a legend in his time?
I knew him when I was a girl he was beyond his prime
And I often heard my father talk of Moylan and his men
And of their famous victory at Tureengariffe Glen.

I'm a Naturalized Australian now and 'tis here my future lie
But a hint of Duhallow accent for to recognize her by
And Kiskeam just a fading memory and half a World away
And she doesn't hang on to the past she lives for future day.

A strange place Phillip Island to meet woman from Kiskeam
And I feel sorry I forgot to ask her for her name
Her grandchild she had with her a fair haired freckeld boy
And he only uttered two words he seemed withdrawn and shy.