The former Rose of Cullen where might she be today <br />She left the Village years ago when flowers bloomed in the May <br />She left as many others did for places far away <br />For the Land of opportunity the great U S of A. <br /> <br />A woman of rare beauty her equals only few <br />Her hair was brown and wavy and her eyes were bright and blue <br />By conceit unaffected and she was free of guile <br />She was a lovely person with warmth in her smile. <br /> <br />Of marriage she had proposals but 'twas not in her plan <br />To settle in Duhallow and wed a local man <br />The wanderlust was in her and her future was elsewhere <br />And she left behind the memories of her beauty rich and rare. <br /> <br />And she was almost twenty when I was just a boy <br />She must be in her sixties now how quick the years did fly <br />And years bring with them wrinkles and years bring with them gray <br />But the former Rose of Cullen young in my memory stay. <br /> <br />Through Cullen Village in Duhallow she cycled up and down <br />The wind was in her fair young face and tossed her hair of brown <br />The former Rose of Cullen was almost in her prime <br />And the memory of her beauty remains undimmed by time. <br /> <br />The wanderlust was in her and she went to live elsewhere <br />And I recall her beauty for she had beauty rare <br />The former Rose of Cullen where might she be today <br />Is she still in America so many miles away?<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-former-rose-of-cullen/
