The Canadian Boat Song

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                           I
      Listen to me, as when ye heard our father
          Sing long ago, the song of other shores;
      Listen to me, and then in chorus gather
          All your deep voices, as ye pull your oars.

                         Chorus:
          Fair these broad meads, these hoary woods are grand,
          But we are exiles from our father's land.

	                   II
      From the lone shieling of the misty island
          Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas;
      Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
          And we, in dreams, behold the Hebrides.

			   III
      We shall never tread the fancy-haunted valley
          Where, 'tween the dark hills creeps the small clear stream,
      In arms around the patriarch banner rally,
          Nor see the moon on royal tomb-stones gleam.

			   IV
      When the kindred, in time long vanish'd
          Conquered the soil, and fortified the keep,
      No seer foretold the children would be banished,
          That a degenerate lord might boast his sheep.

			   V
      Come foreign raid!  let discord burst in slaughter!
          Oh! then for clansmen true, and stern claymore.
      The hearts that would have given their blood like water
          Beat heavily beyond the Atlantic roar.

	                                 -- Author Anonymous

The Canadian Boat Song in Original Gaelic

The Canadian Boat Song, as it was published in "Blackwood's Magazine" September 1829, for the first time. See Note.

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