Above The Old Rushy Fields Poem by Francis Duggan

Above the old rushy fields near the Town of Millstreet
Where the Cails from Kippagh and the Finnow does meet
Feeling too cold and hungry and Spring far away
The little brown lark is not singing today
The overnight frost has left the countryside gray
And in the nearby farm-shed the cattle are bellowing for silage or hay
On the bare trees and hedges the migrant redwings call
They have been in Duhallow since the late Fall
Eight sleeps before Christmas a cold wet time of year
And each dawn to the harshest of Winter draws near
At least fourteen weeks till the warmer days of Spring
To April till the nesting songbirds will sing
The cattle in the old fields again will be seen
And Nature in Duhallow will be spreading her green.