Listen to
me, as when ye heard our father
Sing long ago the song of other shores -
Listen to me, and then in chorus gather
All your deep voices, as ye pull your oars.
From the
lone shieling of the misty island
Mountains divide us, and waste of seas -
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.
We ne'er
shall tread the fancy-haunted valley,
Where 'tween the dark hills creeps the small clear stream,
In arms around the patriarch banner rally,
Nor see the moon on royal tombstones gleam.
When the
bold kindred, in the time long vanis'hd,
Conquer'd the soil and fortified the keep -
No seer foretold the children would be banish'd,
That a degenerate lord might boast his sheep.
Come foreign
rage - let Discord burst in slaughter!
O then for clansmen true, and stern claymore
The hearts that would have given their blood like water,
Beat heavily beyond the Atlantic roar.