Life Goes On Without Me

The robin is still singing in the wood at Claramore And life in old Duhallow it goes on as before And the farmer has his barn full of silage straw and hay Feed and bedding for his animals when fields are bare and gray. The dipper is still singing where the rill and river meet And the dunnocks are still piping in the hedgerows of Millstreet And the swallow and the cuckoo return with the Spring And in leafy groves and woodlets the finches chirp and sing. And redwings from the northlands arrive before the snow On cold days in November when weather glass is low And weather wet and chilly and cold the wild winds blow And the mountain stream in full flood and the river overflow. The months and Seasons come and go in April and in May To chimney nest the jackdaws fly from wood across the way And chirping sparrows on barn rafters keep busy all the day Lining their nest with feathers an untidy ball of hay. In Millstreet life goes on without me and in the groves near Millstreet Town The song thrush with the spotted breast and wings of ochre brown Is carolling in the twilight his distinct notes of joy I fancy I can hear him still as darkness cloaks the sky. The skylark he is singing o'er the slopes of Clara hill And buttercups bloom yellow on green bank of mountain rill And the common magpie chattering in the morning gray And life goes on without me in Millstreet far away.