I Would Be A Stranger By Clara Today Poem by Francis Duggan

Perhaps from the old place I've been too long away
I would be a stranger by Clara today
A stranger to most people there I would meet
It has been twenty three years since I lived in Millstreet.

Far north as the crow fly from this sunlit shore
A stranger in Claraghatlea and Claramore
I left when the weather was threatening to snow
And in the fields near Millstreet Town Finnow bank high did flow.

Of the Homeplace such pleasant memories I retain
And in fancy I walk in the old fields again
On a Spring evening the chaffinch is singing as the sun goes down
In a grove by the stream a mile from Millstreet Town.

A stranger in Inchaleigh, Shannaknock and Annagloor
But with such happy memories I cannot be poor
The Cails from Kippagh through Ballydaly is babbling along
And in a grove in Feirm a robin on song.

In my flights of fancy such beauty I've seen
The high fields of Clarabeg and the groves of Dereen
And though lovely to visualize the hawthorns in their white blooms of May
I would be a stranger by Clara today.