The Day That I Left Millstreet Poem by Francis Duggan

The day that I left Millstreet the rain was drizzling down
And old Clara in his hat of snow overlooked Millstreet Town
On a cold day in December the chilly north winds did blow
On the day I left Duhallow some twenty years ago.

The coldness and dampness of December was in the afternoon air
As I boarded the bus in Millstreet Town to the ferry from Rosslare
The wanderlust was in me for the bigger World out there
Before I grew much older I would try my luck elsewhere.

I thought that I'd be back again to see the flowers of Spring
And hear in the old wood beside the hill the nesting songbirds sing
But Spring from Millstreet and Millstreet Town see me further away
I was destined to visualize the beauty born of May.

On the day that I left Millstreet Finnow bank high did flow
Through wet and rushy fields west of the Town by many a bare hedgerow
I thought I would return in Spring but it wasn't meant to be
But in my flights of fancy the past returns to me.