The Gaelic words usually associated with the lament are supposed to have been sung by Donald Bàn’s sweetheart, but they are in all likelihood of much later date. The chorus, however, is probably as old as the tune, but the complete verses first appeared in print in 1835, in a collection of Popular Gaelic Songs by John Mac Kenzie, of the Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, where the words are said to have been taken from an old Skye manuscript. Translated into English they lose much of their plaintive melody, and make but a poor means of conveying an idea of the tune to the non-Gaelic reader:—
“The mountain mist flows deep on Cullin,
The fay sings her elegy sorrowful;
Mild blue eyes in the Duin are in tears,
Since he departed and refused to return.
He returns not, returns not, returns not, Mac Crimmon,
From war and conflict the warrior refuses to return.
He returns not, returns not, Mac Crimmon would not return,
He will return no more until the day of the last gathering.
The winds of the wold among the boughs are wailing,