Referring back to Malcolm Douglas's post of 25 April 04 I can confirm that the Gaelic lyrics given by charili above are indeed from A Fairy Plaint (Ceol-brutha) in Songs of the Hebrides, Vol 1, although the English translation is somewhat different. I have both volumes of Songs of the Hebrides, very battered and old now. The notes at the top of the music say "Noted from the singing of Mrs. Macdonald, Skallary, Barra". Like other music in these volumes, it has been collected manually by notation while listening to singers in the islands, and arranged for piano and voice by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.

I'm looking for audio recordings of this song - any help would be much appreciated.