Robert Gilfillan, the writer of this and other well-known Scotch songs, was a native of Dunfermline, in which town he was born
in the year 1814.During his short life, which terminated in 1887, when he was but 23 years of age, he contributed to the local
newspapers and periodicals several songs, all marked by much gentle and kindly feeling, and of a smooth and easy rhythm eminently
adapted to music. After his death, "The Exile's Song," "In the Days of Langsyne," and others were set to pleasing melodies by
musicians, and have become part of the standard minstrelsy of Scotland.
Oh ! why left I my hame ?
Why did I cross the deep ?
Oh ! why left I the land
Where my forefathers sleep
I sigh tor Scotia's shore,
And I gaze a.ross the sea,
But I canna get a blink
O' my ain countrie !
The palm-tree waveth high,
And fair the myrtle springs,
And to the Indian maid
Tbe bulbul sweetly sings.
But I dinna see the broom
Wi' its tassels on the lea,
Nor hear the lntles' sang
O' my aln countrie !
Oh ! here no Sabbath bell
Awakes the Sabbath morn,
Nor sang of reapers heard
Amang the yellow corn ;
For the tyrant's voice is here,
And the wail of slaverie ;
But the sun ot freedom shines
In my ain countrie !
There's a hope for every woe,
And a balm for every pain ;
But the first joys o' our heart
Come never back again.
There's a track upon the deep,
And a path across the sea ;
But the weary ne'er return
To their ain countrie !
Notes
From the NSW Newspaper The Maitland Daily Mercury 18 Jul 1894 p. 3.
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