Old Banteer

He always talks when he's had a few beers About Duhallow of his younger years And Banteer where he grew to be a man And from where the journey south for him began. He worked for farmers since he was teenage boy No matter what the weather wet or dry And there was no such thing as an easy day And plenty overtime not matched by pay. Back in those days teenagers did the work of men And he often left the fields drenched to the skin Without change of clothes he worked through hail and rain And memories of such hardships with him still remain. In Autumn days he worked in threshing yard Piking sheafs of corn to thresher that was hard Through the long days from morning till nightfall He laboured hard for wages far too small. But he was young then coming to his prime And he was looking forward to that time When he would have a few pounds with his fare To board the boat for Fishguard at Rosslare. One January morning forty six years ago The fields by the Blackwater white with snow He walked to the station in the sleety rain Bound for Rosslare he took the morning train. And with Winter weather at it's most severe On that morning in January fifty six he left Banteer For months on end he had yearned for places new And he was young then only twenty two. He lived and worked in London for a few years he say And still he yearned for places far away And just three weeks before Christmas in fifty nine He walked off ship into Port Melbourne's warm sunshine. His son and daughter now are in their prime And he's a granddad for the second time He show his years his hair is silver gray And he's first to admit he has had his day. On saturday evening down at the pub he drinks his beer The man well known to some as Old Banteer He talks of home and sing 'Bold Thady Quill' A song from boyhood he remember still. The fields by the Blackwater white with snow When he left Banteer forty six years ago And perhaps right now his would look a strange face Back in Duhallow in the old home place.