The Auld Songs -- An Exile's Song (1897)
Tune--" The Auld Hoose."
The auld sangs ! the auld sangs !
Croon'd at oor mither's knee.
The kin'ly, canty, winsome lays
O' hame an' infancie,
The sweet blue bell's, the broomy knowes,
The sparklin' waterfa',
The heather hills, the fairy dells
O' youthfu' days reca'.
The auld hame, the auld hame,
Far o'er the sim'rin sea,
Beguil'd by Music's magic spell,
Oor fancy wings tae thee.
Ance mair we speel the cloud-lost steep,
Whaur giant Ben uprears,
An' see the wave-washed Hebrides
Thro' rising mist o' tears !
The wild pass an' the sun fleck'd glen,
Whaur flicht'rin shadows flee,
The eagle soarin' in his pride,
O'er crag an' tarn we see.
An' nestlin' tae the dun hill's side,
Far hemra'd wi' peak on peak,
The shiclin', scarcely tae be kent,
But for its blue pent reek !
The auld sangs, the auld sangs,
Tae hallow'd mem'ry dear,
Aye thrills the hamely, Doric speech
In ilka Scotsman's ear.
Tho' exil'd far in arid climes,
Opprest wi' grief an' care.
The auld sangs rouse oor droopln' herts
Like breath o' caller air !
They cheer us, they mind us
O' scenes far o'er the tide--
The windin' Forth, the bonnie Doon,
The noble Firth o' Clyde ;
The bairnles joukin' at their play,
Scotch sports an' Hielan' reels,
The hardy fisher's glittr'in spoil,
The lasses wi' their creels !
The auld sangs, the auld sangs,
Yet Scottish tales enshrine
The patriot's fire, the lover's lay,
The martyr's zeal divine--
They sing th' unconqner'd Scottish soil
Whaur North Sea breakers urge.
An' hail the wastlin' mountains rise
To brave th' Atlantic surge !
J.B.
Notes
From the NSW Newspaper the Clarence and Richmond Examiner Tuesday 10 August 1897 p. 2.