The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #44447   Message #2181102
Posted By: Jim Dixon
28-Oct-07 - 02:03 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Highland Crofter (from Dougie Maclean)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE HIGHLAND CROFTER (James Kennedy)
From "The Complete Scottish and American Poems of James Kennedy" by James Kennedy, 1920.


THE HIGHLAND CROFTER

FRAE Kenmore to Ben More
  The land is a' the Marquises';
The mossy howes, the heathery knowes
  An' ilka bonnie park is his;
The bearded goats, the towsie stots
  An' a' the braxie carcasses;
Ilk crofter's rent, ilk tinkler's tent
  An' ilka collie's bark is his;
The muircock's craw, the piper's blaw.
  The ghillie's hard day's wark is his,
Frae Kenmore to Ben More
  The warld is a' the Marquises'!

The fish that swim, the birds that skim,
  The fir, the ash, the birk is his;
The castle ha', sae big an' braw.
  Yon diamond-crusted durk is his;
The roofless hame,—a burning shame,
  The factor's dirty wark is his;
The poor fowk vexed, the lawyer's text,
  Yon smirkin' legal shark is his;
Frae Kenmore to Ben More
  The warld is a' the Marquises'!

But near, mair near, God's voice we hear—
  The dawn as weel's the dark is His.
The poet's dream, the patriot's theme,
  The fire that lights the mirk is His;
They clearly show God's mills are slow
  But sure the handiwark is His;
And in His grace our hope we place.
  Fair Freedom's sheltering ark is His.
The men that toil should own the soil—
  A note as clear's the lark's is this—
Breadalbane's land—the fair, the grand—
  Will no' be aye the Marquises'!