I Won'T Be There

The swallows fly above the old fields all day And the birds nest and sing in the woods far away But I won't be there when the Spring is in bloom And the valley is fragrant with Nature's perfume. In the tall reeds of the river pool the wary moorhen cry To warn her chicks of danger nearby And three tiny dark chicks in cover disappear They've learned from mother her call which warn them to fear Human kind and predators and of them to stay clear And hide themselves if predators they see or if footsteps they hear In the wilds of Nature the fittest survive And only the wariest does stay alive. And I won't be there when Nature's wild-flowers Bloom in the lush fields in the mild April showers And bluebells and primroses on the ditch by the bohreen I do often recall the great beauty I've seen. And I won't be there for to welcome the Spring And in the leafy grove hear the male robin sing But white blossoms do bloom on the hawthorn tree And life in the old parish goes on without me.