Where Finnow Poem by Francis Duggan

In the flat fields the rushes in clusters does grow
Where Finnow the white river to the Blackwater flow
Behind the gray clouds the sun hidden away
It is wet, windy and cold in Duhallow and Sliabh Luachra today

February in Ireland a cold and wet time of the year
Where birdsong is something that one does not hear
The soughing of the wind in bare deciduous trees
And the weather temperatures just above zero degrees

Cattle in farmyard sheds bellowing for silage or hay
They have been in sheds since November and in sheds have to stay
Until the milder winds ofApril grass growth to the fields will bring
And deciduous trees will sprout their new leaves of the Spring

In February in Ireland near the calendar Spring
In the bare windswept groves one does not hear the birds sing
But Spring is approaching with the dawning of each day
To bring flowers to the old fields by the birth of May

From the Boggeraghs Mountains in their hats of snow
There is cold in the rain when the howling winds blow
Above the old fields where the rushes in clusters does grow
Where Finnow the white river to the Blackwater flow.