I've Been Too Long Absent

I've been too long absent from the old homeplace
And nowadays mine there would be a stranger's face
Many there I knew deceased and the young getting old
And the changes keep happening there as I have been told.

But the old fields I knew doubtless would look the same
I recall some of them do have a given name
And the dipper does sing in the clear babbling rill
That flows to the river from the fields by the hill.

For sake of adventure and not for renown
I left the old Townland just west of the Town
When the old hill was wearing his white hat of snow
And the cold north winds of December from the mountains did blow.

From the old fields perhaps I've been too long away
And a stranger I'd seem in the homeplace today
The passing of time has left me looking gray
And the clock ticking on as some are known to say.