The robin is still singing in the wood at Claramore <br />And life in old Duhallow it goes on as before <br />And the farmer has his barn full of silage straw and hay <br />Feed and bedding for his animals when fields are bare and gray. <br /> <br />The dipper is still singing where the rill and river meet <br />And the dunnocks are still piping in the hedgerows of Millstreet <br />And the swallow and the cuckoo return with the Spring <br />And in leafy groves and woodlets the finches chirp and sing. <br /> <br />And redwings from the northlands arrive before the snow <br />On cold days in November when weather glass is low <br />And weather wet and chilly and cold the wild winds blow <br />And the mountain stream in full flood and the river overflow. <br /> <br />The months and Seasons come and go in April and in May <br />To chimney nest the jackdaws fly from wood across the way <br />And chirping sparrows on barn rafters keep busy all the day <br />Lining their nest with feathers an untidy ball of hay. <br /> <br />In Millstreet life goes on without me and in the groves near Millstreet Town <br />The song thrush with the spotted breast and wings of ochre brown <br />Is carolling in the twilight his distinct notes of joy <br />I fancy I can hear him still as darkness cloaks the sky. <br /> <br />The skylark he is singing o'er the slopes of Clara hill <br />And buttercups bloom yellow on green bank of mountain rill <br />And the common magpie chattering in the morning gray <br />And life goes on without me in Millstreet far away.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/life-goes-on-without-me/
