Memories

I have sung about the hills of Caherbarnagh and glorified those ancient Paps of Shrone
And spoke about the lake of Gortavehy in bracken valley by a cliff of stone
And memories from the past to me returning the skylark sing above the bracken ground
I still stand on the slopes of Clara mountain and view the splendid scenery all around.

I have raved about young females of Duhallow they live as always in my memory
The years of absence has not made them older they still seem very beautiful to me
Mary from Ballydesmond sweet as ever and the blond haired blue eyed rose of Derrinagree
Annie from Kiskeam and Kate from Rockchapel and Jane whose mum and dad came from Tralee.

The Finnow flow in quiet fields of Cloghoula from higher country it has journeyed down
By groves and hedgerows that border Mountleader through Inchaleigh along by Millstreet Town
Through the flatlands of Coomlogane it journey and through the rushy bogs of Claraghatlea
To join with the Cails en route to the Blackwater on through Dooneen it twists and winds it's way.

The sparrows pecking bread crumbs by the back door that housewife swept out from the kitchen floor
And orange breast robin carolling on the cypress and jackdaw cackling on the sycamore
And song thrush on the blackthorn is whistling and chaffinch singing on the willow tree
They pipe their tunes in Mother Nature's garden and in Nature's garden they live wild and free.

The past is history and gone forever and the future's all that matter some might say
But people like to hang on to good memories and recall them as they grow old and gray
And still I hear the snowy breasted dipper sing on a rock round where stream rapids flow
And memories carry me to distant places across the miles and to the long ago.