The Book of Scottish Song/The waes o' Scotland

The waes o' Scotland.

[This is an abridged version of a Jacobite ballad by Allan Cunningham.]

When I left thee, bonnie Scotland,
O thou wert fair to see!
Fresh as a bonnie bride in the morn,
When she maun wedded be.
When I came back to thee, Scotland,
Upon a May morn fair,
A bonnie lass sat at our town end,
Kaming her yellow hair.

"Oh hey! oh hey!" sung the bonnie lass,
"Oh hey! and wae is me!
There's siccan sorrow in Scotland,
As een did never see.
Oh hey, oh hey, for my father auld!
Oh hey, for my mither dear!
And my heart will burst for the bonnie lad
Wha left me lanesome here."

I wander a' night 'mang the lands I own'd,
When a' folk are asleep,
And I lie o'er my father and mither's grave,
An hour or twa to weep.
O fatherless and motherless,
Without a ha' or hame,
I maun wander through my dear Scotland,
And bide a traitor's blame.

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