Stranger

I cannot say that it does bring joy to me To think that a stranger to most people in Millstreet i would be A stranger to many where years ago i was well known And where i would not be seen now as one of their own Even in Claraghatlea where my life's journey began Today many would say who is this strange old man What brings him to here he looks so old and gray He must have arrived from a place far away Like home to the Roman will always be Rome Millstreet to me it will always be home Though i grow old under a far southern sky My place of birth to anyone i would never deny Far north of this sunny countryside near Warrnambool A stranger in Millstreet where i went to school Just a half an hour walk west of the Town of Millstreet I still miss those old fields where the waterways meet Many i knew in Millstreet not living there today Some of them among the deceased does lay And some like me in the Parish who did not choose to stay From their first homes in Duhallow are aging far away Perhaps on a Spring twilight in a field by old River Finnow I will never more hear the soft lowing of a cow When the male snipe above the bog in the darkening sky as he flies around With his wings and tail makes a drumming sound I would be a stranger to many in Millstreet today And this for me does feel a sad thing for to say But the now is all that does matter and life does go on And at midnight this evening today will be gone.