Nostalgia

In decades gone by nostalgia I did know
But it was a thing in time I did outgrow
Though memories of the old home fields with me remain
And in fancy I do visit them again.

Every field around my old home had a name
And no two fields looked exactly the same
The old stream by the hedgerow flowed along
And the birds I recognized them by their song.

From those old fields a mile from Millstreet Town
I went in search of fortune and renown
But those things never seemed to come my way
And I'm poorer and less well known than I was then today.

In Claraghatlea I felt one of their own
And by everybody there I was well known
But the baby when I left is now a man
And twenty years in time a lengthy span.

Nostalgia used to reduce me to tears
Especially when I had drunk a few beers
But save for the memories few things seem to last
And time ticks on and we cannot bring back the past.