Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/53
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
For Love of Appin.
17
IX.
For Love of Appin.
The hand is to the plough an’ the e’e is to the trail;
The river-boatie dances wi’ her heid to the gale;
But she’ll never ride to Appin;
We’ll see nae mair o’ Appin;
For ye ken we crooned “Lochaber” at the saut sea’s gate.
It’s a land of giantrie;
Its lochs are like the sea.
But it’s no a desert fairly,
The corn’s fu’ an’ early;
Ye’ll hear the laddies daffing;
Ye’ll hear the lasses laughing;
But we—we canna tine
What lies ayont the brine:
When we sang “Lochaber” then,
We were grey, grey men.
We’ll smile nae mair for ever
By the prairie or the river,
Lest ony think perchance that we forget
The rainy road to Appin,—
East awa’ to Appin,—
The rainy road to Appin that the leal men went.
The river-boatie dances wi’ her heid to the gale;
But she’ll never ride to Appin;
We’ll see nae mair o’ Appin;
For ye ken we crooned “Lochaber” at the saut sea’s gate.
It’s a land of giantrie;
Its lochs are like the sea.
But it’s no a desert fairly,
The corn’s fu’ an’ early;
Ye’ll hear the laddies daffing;
Ye’ll hear the lasses laughing;
But we—we canna tine
What lies ayont the brine:
When we sang “Lochaber” then,
We were grey, grey men.
We’ll smile nae mair for ever
By the prairie or the river,
Lest ony think perchance that we forget
The rainy road to Appin,—
East awa’ to Appin,—
The rainy road to Appin that the leal men went.
They tore us out o’ Scotland, they flang us in the west
Like a bairn’s thread o’ beads, an’ we downa look for rest.
But it’s O to lie in Appin,—
I’ the haly sod o’ Appin,—
It’s O to lie in Appin where the mist haps a’!
Cauld is this to live or die on,
But we brought the tents o’ Zion;
An’ weel the mark is seen
Where the martyr-blood hath been
Like a bairn’s thread o’ beads, an’ we downa look for rest.
But it’s O to lie in Appin,—
I’ the haly sod o’ Appin,—
It’s O to lie in Appin where the mist haps a’!
Cauld is this to live or die on,
But we brought the tents o’ Zion;
An’ weel the mark is seen
Where the martyr-blood hath been