I Thought I Left Millstreet Poem by Francis Duggan

I thought I left Millstreet but Millstreet has not left me
Since in moments of nostalgia the high fields by Clara Isee
And I often hear the soft babble of the Claraghatlea rill
Whose clear flowing liquid tongue day and night is never still

Though the past it has gone of memories of it we are never free
A migrant from Duhallow is the best I can be
Though I left there in years many decades ago
And time that ages all life has become my foe

I thought I left Millstreet but thought has proved me wrong
As the memories of the Hometown remain ever strong
I would walk on the West End as a stranger to many today
Who is this old fellow many of me would say

Here in Illowa of the Moyne Shire between Koroit and Warrnambool
Far south of the Town where as a boy I attended school
The years have left me balding with hair of silver gray
Where to many I remain as one from far away

I thought I left Millstreet on view of Clara Hill
But memories remain with me and always will
Of a place north of where I now live far away
Claraghatlea where I first looked on the lamp of day.