We 'll a' Go Pu' the Heather by Robert Nicoll. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

We ’ll a’ Go Pu’ the Heather

Robert Nicoll (1814–37)


WE ’LL a’ go pu’ the heather,
Our byres are a’ to theek:
Unless the peat-stack get a hap,
We ’ll a’ be smoor’d wi’ reek.
Wi’ rantin’ sang awa’ we ’ll gang,	5
While summer skies are blue,
To fend against the winter cauld
The heather we will pu’.

I like to pu’ the heather,
We ’re aye sae mirthfu’ where	10
The sunshine creeps atour the crags,
Like ravell’d golden hair.
Where on the hill-tap we can stand
Wi’ joyfu’ heart I trow,
And mark ilk grassy bank and holm,	15
As we the heather pu’.

I like to pu’ the heather,
Where harmless lambkins run,
Or lay them down beside the burn
Like gowans in the sun;	20
Where ilka foot can tread upon
The heath-flower wet wi’ dew,
When comes the starnie ower the hill,
While we the heather pu’.

I like to pu’ the heather,	25
For ane can gang awa’,
But no before a glint o’ love
On some ane’s e’e doth fa’.
Sweet words we dare to whisper there,
“My hinny and my doo,”	30
Till maistly we wi’ joy could greet
As we the heather pu’.

We ’ll a’ go pu’ the heather,
For at you mountain fit
There stands a broom bush by a burn,	35
Where twa young folk can sit:
He meets me there at morning’s rise,
My beautiful and true.
My father said the word—the morn
The heather we will pu’.	40