Back There Near Caherbarnagh Hill Poem by Francis Duggan

Back there near Caherbarnagh hill the weather cold today
And from the overnight frost the old fields looking gray
It is even too cold to snow below zero degrees
And not even one leaf remains on the deciduous trees
The migrant redwing thrushes chirp on the windswept hedgerow
And the old stream from the high ground bank high to the river flow
It will be at least nine weeks till the early days of Spring
Till the deciduous trees bud new leaves and the nesting songbirds sing
Today above old Caher bog the brown lark does not fly
For to carol in the grayness of the mid morning sky
It is a dormant time of year when grass refuse to grow
And across the barren countryside the cold north east winds blow
And the harsh caw of the gray crow in the frosty air one hear
In early January in Caherbarnagh in the cold of the New Year.