Would I Feel A Stranger Now Poem by Francis Duggan

Would i feel a stranger now in Claraghatlea
It has been two decades a cold and bleak day
The dark clouds of rain they were low in the sky
When to the life that i knew i said goodbye.

So many old friends in eternal rest lay
In St Mary's in Millstreet from here far away
And though them in the flesh i will not see again
The mental pictures of them with me remain.

Good memories i do not find hard to recall
The old fields they would not have changed much at all
I visualize the hoarse caw of the gray crow
And the babble of the stream along by the hedgerow.

Would i feel a stranger now in Millstreet Town
The West End and the Main Street i might walk up and down
And at people i recall smile and say hello
But an ageing face from the past nowadays they might not know.

Since i left a new generation into young adults have grown
And in Millstreet by so few i now would be known
And in Claraghatlea my old Townland so many might say
Who is he that stranger he looks old and gray?



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