The Volunteer Boys/The Days of Langsyne
THE DAYS OF LANGSYNE.
When war had broke in on the peace of auld men,
And frae Chelsea to arms they were summon’d again,
Twa vet’rans grown grey wi’ their muskets sair foll’d,
Wi’ a sigh were relating how hard they had toil’d,
The drum it was beating, to fight they incline,
But ay they look back on the days o’ lang syne.
Eh! Davie man weel thou remembers the time,
When twa brisk young callans, an’ just in our prime,
The prince led us, conquer’d and shew’d us the way,
An’ mony a braw chief we turn’d cauld on that day;
Still again wad I venture this auld trunk o’ mine,
Could our generals but lead, or we fight like lang syne.
But garrison duty is a’ we can do,
Tho’ our arms are worn weak, yet our hearts are still true;
We fear’d neither danger by land or by sea,
For time’s turn’d coward, an ne you or me;
And tho’ at our fate we may sadly repine,
Youth winna return, nor the strength o’ lang syne.
When after our conquests, it joys me to mind,
How thy Jean caressed thee, and my Meg was kind,
They shar’d a’ our dangers, tho’ ever sae hard,
Nor car’d we for plunder, when sic our reward:
Ev’n now they’re resolved baith their hames to resign,
And to share the hard fates they were us’d to lang syne.