The Last Time I Saw Clara

The last time I saw Clara he wore a hat of snow And across the fields of Claraghatlea the wintery winds did blow And the swollen stream in flood of brown through Claramore did flow And close to seventy seasons since have passed for that was long ago. The last time I saw Clara the windswept woods were bare And the chill breath of Winter was in the morning air And the cold night of heavy frost had left the landscape looking gray And from the fields of old Duhallow the Spring seemed far away. The last time I saw Clara the memory still with me Of the redwings eating red berries upon the holly tree They had flown down from further north to their old wintering ground And the weather at it's coldest when these thrushes are around. The last time I saw Clara the Finnow flowed bank high And the cold winds of December blew across the wintery sky And hungry blackbird by the hedgerow scattered leaf litter with his bill and feet In his frantic search for worms and Invertebrates to eat.