January In Sliabh Luachra And Duhallow Poem by Francis Duggan

Swollen from heavy rain in Sliabh Luachra and Duhallow
The river Blackwater it's banks overflow
And flood the countryside for kilometers around
The waterlogged fields on flood waters abound

The howling of the gales in the bare trees one often does hear
In January in Sliabh Luachra and Duhallow a cold and wet time of year
The weather temperatures often at the point of freeze
Can plummet to well below zero degrees

The mornings quite cold the frosted fields often gray
Above the low rain clouds the sun hidden away
The cattle in farm sheds bellow for silage or hay
So many cold and wet days and nights till the birth of the May

Through the years of absence the memories remain
of storms and snow, frost and flooding rain
And so many weeks 'til the first breath of Spring
When the wild born nesting birds will chirp and sing

Above the fields of the rook and the silver back crow
From the Boggeragh Ranges the cold winds do blow
And though the weather is cold and the sky seldom clear
Every grey dawn to the Spring brings us near.