Back Home Near Ballydaly

To cypress tree the robin came to lilt and whistle daily And Spring brought greeness to the fields back home near Ballydaly And though winter months were harsh and long cool April brought the swallow And cattle now were out on grass in all parts of Duhallow. The birch she wore new cloak of green and nest building birds were mating And April faded into May and time for no one waiting And Summer fade to Autumn brown and days grew short and colder And teenage boy is now a man his dad now gray and older. The boy had grown into a man the man had dreams to follow And he left the places of his youth and went off like the swallow But he did not return in Spring though blackbird whistled gaily And dunnock carolled on the hedge back home in ballydaly. But when in park of foreign town he hear the blackbird singing Nostalgia come to visit him and then his thoughts go winging To Claramore and Clarabeg and places of his childhood When Spring came in and brought her green and birds sang in the wildwood. The Irishman since famine days a man destined to wander He likes to see beyond the hill and live in the great yonder But he's nostalgic sort of bloke the Homeland he remember And more than likely he returns to live his life's December To cypress tree the robin came to lilt and carol daily And spring bring green to wood and field back home in Ballydaly And wildflowers in their billions bloom and home again the swallow And cattle out to live on grass in all parts of Duhallow.