The Book of Scottish Song/Gude Coldstream toon

Gude Coldstream toon.

[William Air Foster.—Here first piinted.]

My heartfelt thoughts to you are leal,
Gude folks o' Coldstream toon!
My heart was sair to bid fareweel
To a' the neebours roun'.
'Twas here my earliest breath was drawn;
And mony a happy day
I spent wi' neebour callants then,
Though I've been lang away.

But since I left gude Coldstream toon,
O time has changed it sair;
The bairnie then upon the lap
Has grown a woman fair;
The young and comlie lads I left
Are now grown bauld and grey,
And auld folks scarce, that ance I kenn'd
Before I gaed away.

There's something in gude Coldstream toon
That mak's my bosom beat,
Wi' an instinct like the hunted hare
To gain its native seat—
To see Tweed's bonnie stream again,
Ilk plantain, haugh, and brae,
That bore the charm o' auld langsyne
When ane was far away.

I'll wear the gloamin' o' my days
Whare life's career began,
And breathe the latest breath o' life
Just whare the first was drawn.
In Coldstream toon wi' Coldstream folk,
A cozzie beild I'll ha'e,
And fight the battles owre again
I fought whan far away.

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