I Loved Claraghtalea Then

The Winters were cold and windy and wet And the fields often gray with frost something i remember yet And cattle in the farmyard sheds often bellowing for silage or hay In the place i was raised in from here far away But i loved Claraghatlea then and i always will That green old Town-land in view of Clara Hill Where i would be a stranger to many today But love of place until death with me will stay Claraghatlea is a beautiful place in the Spring When on leafy groves and hedgerows the wild nesting birds do sing The cattle out of wintering sheds gaining weight by the day And the hawthorns cloaked white in their blooms of the May My heritage to anyone i never deny But this to most people would also apply For as long as the breath of life it is in me A Claraghatlea fellow i always will be The Summer seldom did pass without days of rain And in wet Summer weather for farmers no financial gain In late Autumn the shortening days often wet and windy and i can recall The deciduous trees their brown leaves shedding in the cool of the Fall Brown storm water babbling in every stream, rill and drain And Finnow flowing bank high swollen by heavy rain But i loved Claraghatlea then and i always will That green old Town-land in view of Clara Hill.