A Highland Regiment/To a Dead Soldier
SO I shall never see you more.
The northern winds will blow in vain
Brave and heart-easing off the shore.
You will not sail with them again.
I shall not see you wait for me
Where on the beach the dulse is brown,
Nor hear at night across the sea
Your chorus of the Nighean doun.
Are you so easy handled now
That Flanders soil can keep you still
Although the northern breezes blow
All day across the fairy's hill?
And can an alien lowland clay
Hold fast your soul and body too,
Or will you rise and come away
To where our friendship waits for you?
You cannot rest so far from home,
Your heart will miss the northern wind,
Back from the lowland fields will com«.
Your soul the grave can never bind.
Once more your hands will trim the sail
That carries us across the bay
To where the summer islands pale
Over the seas and far away.
And you will sail and watch with me
The things we saw and loved before.
The happy islands of the sea,
The breakers white against the shore.
A hundred joys that we held dear
Will call you from the Flanders town,
And in the evenings I shall hear
Your chorus of the Nighean doun.