Oft times I walk abroad,
At Autumn morn and even,
To view the works of God
Who made the earth and heaven.
And as I view
The heavens blue
Afar that stretches o’er me,
And fields of grain
On slope and plain
Extending forth before me;
I feel I should be meek
Of heart, of spirit lowly;
I see how man is weak,
How God is great and holy.

The leaves upon the trees,
The summer saw them blooming,
But autumn’s fading breeze
Their freshness is consuming;
Like fate unkind,
That autumn wind
Flings them to earth and spurns them,
From dust they came,
And to the same
Dame Nature now returns them;
These leaves to me recall
The fact – I should be humble;
We came from dust, and all
Of us to dust must crumble.

Michael Mullin
‘The Bard of Foremass’
Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone.