Poetry of Cunningham
Allan Cunningham
born 1784, died 1842
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The Waes O' Scotland
When I left thee, bonnie Scotland,
Thou wert fair to see,
Fresh as a bonnie bride i' the morn
When she maun wedded be!
When I came back to thee, Scotland,
Upon a May-morn fair,
A bonnie lass sat at our town-en',
Kaming her yellow hair.
"O hey! O hey!" sung the bonnie lass,
"O hey! an' wae 's me!
There 's joy to the Whigs, an' land to the Whigs,
An' nought but wae to me!
"O hey! O hey!" sung the bonnie lass,
"O hey! an' wae 's me!
There 's siccan sorrow in Scotland,
As een did never see.
"O hey! O hey for my father auld!
O hey! for my mither dear!
An' my heart will burst for the bonnie lad
Wha left me lanesome here!"
I had na gane in my ain Scotland
Mae miles than twa or three,
When I saw the head o' my ain father
Coming up the gate to me.
"A traitor's head!" and "a traitor's
head!"
Loud bawled a bluidy loon;
But I drew frae the sheath my glaive o' weir,
An' strak the reaver down.
I hied me hame to my father's ha';
Alas and alack anee!
My dear mither lay 'mang the ashes gray,
And the death-tear in her ee.
"O wha has wrought this bluidy wark?
Had I the reaver here,
I 'd wash his sark in his ain heart's blude,
And gie 't to his love to wear!"
I wander a' night 'mang the lands I own'd,
When a' folk are asleep,
And lie owre my father and mither's grave,
An hour or twa to weep!
O fatherless and motherless,
Without a ha' or hame,
I maun wander through my ain Scotland,
And bide a traitor's blame.
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