The Rose Of The Allow Poem by Francis Duggan

Kanturk in Duhallow where River Allow does flow
A Town in North Cork that of i used to know
Though i have not been to there for many a day
Since from the fields by the Boggeraghs i do live far away

My memories take me back many Seasons in time
To when the Rose of the Allow was in her life's prime
Of dark shoulder length wavy hair and eyes of light brown
The finest in her time in old Kanturk Town

One of the most beautiful of the nubile young Duhallow women then
She was the dream girl of many young North Cork men
At the dances in the Star Ballroom in Millstreet and Kanturk's Edel Quinn Hall
She took pride of place as the belle of the ball

But in Kanturk in Duhallow she was not destined to stay
She followed her love of travel to the U S of A
Her future was not to grow old in Kanturk it does seem this way
And she is in her mid seventies if she is living today

I am talking of years in the long ago
And time as we know becomes everyone's foe
The Rose of the Allow when in her life's prime
Though this is going back many Seasons in time.