The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse
The Highland Emigrant’s Last FarewellEvan MacColl (1808–1898)
A
The banks of fair Lochfyne,
Where the first breath of life I drew,
And would my last resign!
Swift sails the bark that wafteth me
This night from thy loved strand;
Oh, must it be my last of thee,
My dear, dear fatherland!
Though fated to depart,
Nor time nor space can e’er efface
Thine image from my heart.
Come weal, come woe, till life’s last throe,
My Highland home shall seem
An Eden bright in Fancy’s light,
A heaven in Memory’s dream!
The bards of matchless song,
Land of the bold heroic race
That never brooked a wrong!
Long in the front of nations free
May Scotland proudly stand;
Farewell to thee, farewell to thee,
My dear, dear fatherland!