Since Callanan Penned Gougane Barra Poem by Francis Duggan

Since Callanan penned Gougane Barra going back many decades in time
Poetry has undergone many changes and long out of fashion is rhyme
And gone are the great Gaelic translators they are now seen as out of date
And as a poet and a translator the Cork poet with the best did rate.

Since J J Callanan penned Gougane Barra West Cork has undergone great change
Were he to return to that part of Ireland to places he once knew he might feel quite strange
And though his best poems are still living and his will be a long lived fame
Suppose nothing does last forever and nothing ever stays the same.

Since Callanan penned Gougane Barra many Seasons have come and gone
But the river he helped to make famous on to the great ocean flows on
And Mother Nature she lives on forever though people they come and they go
And Callanan was one who loved Nature and much about her he did know.

From the river Lee his Allua of song the poet's bones they rest far away
In an unknown and unmarked grave in Lisbon in Portugal his remains forever will lay
One of the best Gaelic bards and translators a long life he did not enjoy
The great poets their fame outlive their mortality and Callanan's fame did not die.

Since Callanan penned Gougane Barra so many decades have gone by
And though time brings change Nature she lives on and to carol the lark upwards fly
To sing o'er the heath by the river that the poet sung of decades ago
The river that never stops babbling as on towards the sea it does flow.