I Live Far South Of My First Home Poem by Francis Duggan

I live far south of my first home in Duhallow Koroit in Victoria is now my hometown
In miles distant from Claraghatlea in view of Clara Mountain where i used to live when my hair was dark brown
From the fields of rook and jackdaw and badger and the predatory one known as the gray back crow
Where the Finnow from fields by Gneeves mountain to the Blackwater in Drishane does flow
In the countryside west of the town of Millstreet i spent my youth and best years of my prime
There i did learn my first lessons of Nature and discovered my useless gift of rhyme
In the old grove by the stream from the high fields I often heard the pink breasted chaffinch sing
Such lovely memories with me to remember the gift of memory is a marvelous thing
The dark brown white breasted dipper in the stream was singing his scratchy song to his identity a give away
The old fields were resplendent in their wildflowers and the hawthorns wore their white blooms of the May
But the lust of wander it was stirring in me for cities far from Claraghatlea and Claramore
For Lands far south of Millstreet in Duhallow in miles distant from Hibernia's windswept shore
Koroit in South West Victoria now my hometown and only the memories with me do remain
Of where i was raised far north by distant mountains and old fields i may never walk on again.