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The Crofter's Farewell

from The Enduring Land by Alan Dickson

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about

Between 1840 and 1880, tens of thousands of crofters and their
families from Skye were forced out of their homes, with many
emigrating to the British colonies, never to return. For many
this was the final straw, leading to land agitation and the
creation of the Highland Land League. Lyrics by Robert Bird
and published in ‘Songs of Freedom’ (1893).

lyrics

Farewell to the cot ‘mong the whins and the bracken,
The sand in the bay, and the rocks on the shore,
To deep-sounding Staffa, and beauteous Kyleaken, -
I leave thee, perchance to return nevermore.
The birds sing as sweet by thy clear springing fountains,
The sun shines as bright on the hills and the sea,
But o’er thy deep valleys and high, swelling mountains
The soft winds of freedom no longer blow free.

Green straths to the sheep have been given without measure,
And glens to the deer, for the stranger to kill,
And all for a proud chieftain’s profit or pleasure,
Thy clans are dispersed like the mist on the hill.
Where once were the hamlet, the shielings, the gardens,
And rustic contentment and industry dwell,
Cold hearths, ruined walls, and green mounds are the wardens
That mark the lost home of the poor vanished Celt.

But who can forget as he treads the red heather,
And hears the lost voices that rise on the breeze,
The men who have gone in their hundreds together
To crowd the dark cities, or cross the wide seas.
I’d rather for life be a poor humble toiler,
With conscience from outrage and cruelty clear,
Than of lonely hearths be a careless despoiler,
To make them the home of the sheep and the deer.

The nation that sleeps while her children are banished,
Who stood like a guard round her wave-beaten shore,
Will some day awake with a cry to the vanished,
A cry for the feet that return nevermore,
My breast heaves with sighs as I leave thee for ever,
To think that man’s pleasure should work such deep woe;
Forget thy dear mountains? Ah, no, I shall never
Forget thee till Highland blood ceases to flow.

credits

from The Enduring Land, released July 17, 2016

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Alan Dickson Glasgow, UK

Scottish singer songwriter Alan Dickson was born in Leith but now based in Glasgow. Alan writes about life in Scotland and beyond, mainly of a personal and political nature.

Descended from a Leith docker, he remarks: "as life mimics art I'm just like my grandfather, only he used a rivet gun and I use a guitar."

Among his influences are Robert Burns, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Dick Gaughan. ... more

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