The By Roads Of Duhallow Poem by Francis Duggan

The by roads of Duhallow they wind on up and down
By Mushera mountain through Aubane and on towards Millstreet Town
I fancy I can see them by the old bracken hills
And I hear the dippers singing in the rippling streams and rills.

From the by roads of Duhallow I may live far away
But in my flights of fancy I see them every day
They wind along the country side from Kiskeam to Boherbue
And down to Cullen Village and uphill to Knocknagree.

The by roads of Duhallow have not changed much in time
The famed bards of the district by them inspired to rhyme
From Kilcorney to Dromtarriffe through to Kanturk via Rathcoole and Banteer
Of the beauty of these places one might sing on for a year.

The by roads of Duhallow live in my memory
Along by the Blackwater and on through Derrinagree
Through Meelin and Newmarket and Rockchapel on to Tower
On the day I last drove on them the hawthorns were in flower.

The by roads of Duhallow may seem distant from me
But they are not that far north when in fancy them I see
And again I will drive on them in the not too distant day
When birds sing on the hedgerows and flowers bloom in the May.