Scottish Poetry Selection
- MacCrimmon's Lament
MacCrimmon's Lament ("Cumha mhic Criomein") is a famous pipe tune composed by Donald Bàn MacCrimmon. It is said that it was written when the Clan MacLeod, led by their chief, rallied to cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite Uprising of 1745/46. MacCrimmon supposedly had a premonition that he and many of the clan would not return from the fighting. That proved to be the case, as MacCrimmon was killed in a skirmish near Moyhall and many of the clan perished at Culloden.
It is believed that the words to the tune were written by Dr Norman Macleod. Certainly, they were printed in a Gaelic article written by Dr Macleod in 1840 in "Fionn", the Celtic Monthly. The translation from the Gaelic below is by Prof. John Stuart Blackie.
MacCrimmon's Lament
Round Coolin's peak the mist is sailing,
The banshee croons her note of wailing,
Mild blue eyne with sorrow are streaming
For him that shall never return, MacCrimmon!The breeze on the brae is mournfully blowing!
The brook in the hollow is plaintively flowing,
The warblers, the soul of the groves, are moaning,
For MacCrimmon that's gone, with no hope of returning!The tearful clouds the stars are veiling,
The sails are spread, but the boat is not sailing,
The waves of the sea are moaning and mourning
For MacCrimmon that's gone to find no returning!No more on the hill at the festal meeting
The pipe shall sound with echo repeating,
And lads and lasses change mirth to mourning
For him that is gone to know no returning!No more, no more, no more for ever,
In war or peace, shall return MacCrimmon;
No more, no more, no more for ever
Shall love or gold bring back MacCrimmon!
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