The Ireland I Was Raised In Poem by Francis Duggan

Old memories of them to me a source of joy
The Irish travellers I knew of when I was a boy
In an Ireland that was changing before I reached my physical prime
And this is going back many decades of time

I loved them for their sense of freedom this nomadic race
In their romany caravans pulled by their pinto horses they travelled from place to place
Often heard them playing music and singing around their campfire at night
Old memories remain as a source of delight

The Ireland I was raised in is a changed Land today
But few things as they are ever does seem to stay
The corncrakes disappeared from where I was raised in due to the earlier cutting of grass for silage or hay
Change does keep occurring it has always been this way

In the Ireland I was raised in change did occur fast
And all I have now are memories of the past
Even Nature due to so called human progress has undergone great change
The past to the present to each other seem strange

Suppose we all undergo change in our own sort of way
I would feel a stranger in Ireland today
And only the memories with me does remain
Of Things I have loved but will not be again.