The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond

The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond

Original Text
The Poetical Works of Andrew Lang, ed. Mrs. Lang, 4 vols. (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1923): I, 55-56. British Library 011645.ee.47
1THERE's an ending o' the dance, and fair Morag's safe in France,
2And the Clans they hae paid the lawing,
3And the wuddy has her ain, and we twa are left alane,
4Free o' Carlisle gaol in the dawing.
5So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
6An' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
7But me and my true love will never meet again,
8By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
9For my love's heart brake in twa, when she kenned the Cause's fa',
10And she sleeps where there's never nane shall waken,
11Where the glen lies a' in wrack, wi' the houses toom and black,
12And her father's ha's forsaken.
13While there's heather on the hill shall my vengeance ne'er be still,
14While a bush hides the glint o' a gun, lad;
15Wi' the men o' Sergeant Môr shall I work to pay the score,
16Till I wither on the wuddy in the sun, lad!
17So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
18An' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
19But me and my true love will never meet again,
20By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Notes

1] Loch Lomond is a lake, about 22 miles by 5 miles in size, north of Dumbarton in Scotland. Back to Line
2] lawing: price, reckoning. Back to Line
3] wuddy: "A euphemism for the hangman's rope or the gallows" (Lang's note).
ain: own. Back to Line
4] dawing: dawn. Back to Line
5] laigh: low. Back to Line
9] kenned the Cause's fa': understood that the Cause (perhaps the Jacobite insurrection supporting Prince Charles) had failed. Back to Line
11] glen: narrow mountain valley.
toom: empty. Back to Line
12] ha': hall's (?). Back to Line
15] Sergeant Môr: John Du Cameron, a large Scots rebel in France who returned home in 1745 to join the rebellion. Afterwards he and his fellow outlaws escaped to the mountains and stole cattle from opposed landowners. Betrayed and captured in 1753, he was taken to Perth, tried, and hanged. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2001
Rhyme
abcb