And where the sea came surging
In mountains from the west,
And reared the racing billow
Its high and hissing crest;
She turned her head so deftly,
With skill so firmly shown,
The billows they went their way
The boatie went her own.
Hò mo bhàta, etc.
And when the sudden squall came
Black swooping from the Ben,
And white the foam was spinning
Around thy topmast then,
O never knew my boatie
A thought of ugly dread,
But dashed right through the billow,
With the spray-shower round her head!
Hò mo bhàta, etc.
Yet wert thou never headstrong
To stand with forward will,
When yielding was thy wisdom
And caution was my skill.
How neatly and how nimbly
Thou turned thee to the wind,
With thy leeside in the water
And a swirling trail behind!
Hò mo bhàta, etc.
What though a lonely dwelling
On barren shore I own,
My kingdom is the blue wave,
My boatie is my throne!
I’ll never want a dainty dish
To breakfast or to dine,
While men may man my boatie
And fish swim in Loch Fyne!
Hò mo bhàta laghach,
’S tu mo bhàta grinn.
Hò mo bhàta laghach,
’S tu mo bhàta grinn.
Hò mo bhàta laghach,
’S tu mo bhàta grinn:
Mo bhàta boidheach laghach,
Thogadh taobh Loch Fin.
The Old Soldier of the Gareloch Head.
JOHN STUART BLACKIE
I’ve wander’d east and west,
And a soldier I hae been;
The scars upon my breast
Tell the wars that I have seen.
But now I’m old and worn,
And my locks are thinly spread,
And I’m come to die in peace,
By the Gareloch Head.
When I was young and strong,
Oft a wandering I would go,
By the rough shores of Loch Long,
Up to lone Glencroe.
But now I’m fain to rest,
And my resting-place I’ve made,
On the green and gentle bosom
Of the Gareloch Head.
’Twas here my Jeanie grew,
Like a lamb amid the flocks,
With her eyes of bonnie blue,
And her gowden locks.
And here we often met,
When with lightsome foot we sped,
O’er the green and grassy knolls
At the Gareloch Head.
’Twas here she pined and died—
O! the salt tear in my e’e
Forbids my heart to hide
What Jeanie was to me!
’Twas here my Jeanie died,
And they scoop’d her lowly bed,
’Neath the green and grassy turf
At the Gareloch Head.