The travellers parked their horse drawn vans at the Shannaknock cross when I was a young boy <br />And recalling such good memories is a thing I still enjoy <br />And though their colorful Romany caravans are no longer to be seen <br />Good memories last a life time and we recall what has been. <br /> <br />I loved their colorful pinto horses with white patches through the brown <br />On March the first they bought and sold them at the horse fair in Millstreet Town <br />In the early sixties the increase on automobile traffic brought an end to the horse drawn van <br />And jeeps and motor vans became the transport of the born to wander clan. <br /> <br />At the cross road around their camp fire on a starry Winter's night <br />They played their tunes and sung their songs under the pale moonlight <br />And something lost forever that won't be found again <br />And only the fond memories of the past now does remain <br /> <br />Of Ireland in the fifties and the early sixties long before I reached my prime <br />When the travellers travelled in their horse drawn vans that is going back in time <br />They added so much colour to the green old countryside <br />As the byroads of the County they travelled far and wide.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memories-of-the-irish-travellers/
