Where I Came From And Here

Where I came from accomplishment means power of money
Unless of course you've known sporting success
And things are much the same here in Australia
If you are poor others you won't impress.

And though I've climbed to the cross at the top of Clara
High above the fields and woods of Claramore
That never would be seen as an achievement
As many others have done that before.

For recognition I then turned to writing
Only to find my verses wouldn't sell
I must have been a bad boy in my past life
For to be condemned to writing doggerel.

I left Ireland because my life had been going nowhere
In search of better fortune and renown
And I'm even more anonymous in this Southern Country
Than I have ever been in Millstreet Town.

I know that many see me as a failure
As I've always lived quite close to poverty
Though I won't be losing any sleep to worrying
Of what other people think and say of me.

The Cromwells and the Hitlers are remembered
Though countless people by them speared and shot
It's sad to think that they live on in history
When all their innocent victims are forgot.

And their victims all good and decent people
And to be different was their only crime
The evil doers though looked on with disfavour
Still spoken of despite the passing time.

I once walked through a valley full of roses
And I heard the dipper sing in a clear flowing stream
But sad to say I felt so disappointed
To wake and find it only was a dream.

Perhaps my dream was of a better world
The far off hills green from a distance seen
But when you reach that hill you find out different
And after all it is not quite so green.

Where I came from and here is not so different
And societies everywhere are much the same
The millionaire always seen as successful
As wealth and power go hand in hand with fame.