HAPPY, happy be their dwallin’s, | |
| By the burn an’ in the glen,— | |
| Cheerie lasses, cantie callans, | |
| Are they a’ in Ochtergaen. | |
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| Happy was my youth amang them, | 5 |
| Rantin’ was my boyhood’s hour; | |
| A’ the winsome ways about them | |
| Now, when gane, I number o’er. | |
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| Weel I mind ilk wood an’ burnie, | |
| Couthie hame an’ muirland fauld,— | 10 |
| Ilka sonsie, cheerfu’ mither, | |
| An’ ilk father douce an’ auld! | |
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| Weel I mind the ploys an’ jokin’ | |
| Lads and lasses used to ha’e,— | |
| Moonlight trysts an’ Sabbath wanders | 15 |
| O’er the haughs an’ on the brae. | |
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| Truer lads an’ bonnier lasses | |
| Never danced beneath the moon; | |
| Love an’ Friendship dwelt amang them, | |
| An’ their daffin ne’er was done. | 20 |
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| I ha’e left them now forever; | |
| But to greet would bairnly be: | |
| Better sing, an’ wish kind Heaven | |
| Frae a’ dule may keep them free. | |
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| Where’er the path o’ life may lead me, | 25 |
| Ae thing sure,—I winna mane | |
| If I meet wi’ hands an’ hearts | |
| Like those o’ cantie Ochtergaen. | |
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