Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOING HOME (DOHERTY'S SHACK), by PATRICK MACGILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOING HOME (DOHERTY'S SHACK), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm going back to glenties when the harvest fields / are brown
Last Line: And the harvest home is cheery in my dear old donegal.
Subject(s): Harvest; Home


I'M going back to Glenties when the harvest fields are brown,
And the Autumn sunset lingers on my little Irish town,
When the gossamer is shining where the moorland blossoms blow
I'll take the road across the hills I tramped so long ago —
'T is far I am beyond the seas, but yearning voices call,
"Will you not come back to Glenties, and your wave-washed Donegal?"

I've seen the hopes of childhood stifled by the hand of time,
I've seen the smile of innocence become the frown of crime,
I've seen the wrong rise high and strong, I've seen the fair betrayed,
Until the faltering heart fell low, the brave became afraid —
But still the cry comes out to me, the homely voices call,
From the Glen among the highlands of my ancient Donegal.

Sure, I think I see them often, when the night is on the town,
The Braes of old Strasala, and the homes of Carrigdoun —
There's a light in Jimmy Lynch's house, a shadow on the blind,
I often watched the shadow, for 't was Mary in behind,
And often in the darkness, 't is myself that sees it all,
For I cannot help but dreaming of the folk in Donegal.

So I'll hie me back to Glenties when the harvest comes again,
And the kine are in the pasture and the berries in the lane,
Then they'll give me such a handshake that my heart will leap with joy,
When a father and a mother welcome back their way-ward boy.
So I'm going back to Glenties when the autumn showers fall,
And the harvest home is cheery in my dear old Donegal.





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