It Is Mid Winter Now In Duhallow

It is mid Winter now in Duhallow the weather cold enough to snow And from the bleak hills of the Boggeragh the chill winds of January blow And swollen by streams and smaller rivers the Blackwater in flood waters of brown Is raging bank high in the old fields in the flat country towards Mallow Town Mid winter is bleak in Duhallow nine weeks from the first signs of Spring When new leaves on the trees are budding and the nesting songbirds do sing When cattle out of wintering sheds on the lush grass are gaining in weight by the day And the swallows to breed are back in their home-place from the warm climes far away From the fields by the Boggeragh Mountains where they did first look on daylight Birds born with the lure of the wander their tireless wings destined for flight The gray fog has obscured the mountains and the freshening winds promise more rain And brown rain water flowing with a gurgle in every field and roadside drain It is mid Winter now in Duhallow a tad below zero degrees And the migratory redwings are chirping on branches of the naked trees They were born far north of Duhallow in five weeks from now they will fly To breed in their northern woodlands these travelers of the northern sky.