John Still Thinks Of Australia

From the field at the back of their house John and Eileen can see
The mighty Blackwater river flow slowly towards the sea
Along the Cork-Waterford border through places flat and green
Yet John still thinks of Australia and things there he's done and seen.

He thinks of the Snowy Mountains where he worked in his prime
When he was in his twenties and that's going back in time
But the Victorian-New South Wales border more than half a World away
From the flat lands near Youghal where he resides today.

He worked in Sydney and in Melbourne for Grollos in Collins street
In the height of the Summer jack hammering in the heat
Still he enjoyed the hard work and the take home pay was good
And he is one who never pined for the Land of his boyhood.

Saturday night at the Normandy hotel where he and Eileen often took the floor
And they shared a table with their friends for three hours or even four
The Irish pubs in Queens Parade full of music, dance and song
And three or four hours spent there did not at all seem long

Nineteen years in Australia that seems a lengthy span
Since he left Gortavehy in seventy three as a fit and a young man
And he loved it in Australia and the Aussie way of life
And there he found love and his soul mate in Eileen his Irish wife.

He lives in his old homeland amongst the finest scenery
Near Youghal where the Blackwater slowly edges towards the sea
Still he recalls quite often the happy days that he
Spent in the Southern Country of the gum and wattle tree.