Classic Poem

Happy, happy be their dwallin's,
By the burn an' in the glen —
Cheerie lasses, cantie callans,
Are they a' in Ochtergaen.

Happy was my youth amang them —
Rantin' was my boyhood's hour;
A' the winsome ways about them,
Now when gane, I number o'er.
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's, &c.

Weel I mind ilk wood an' burnie,
Couthie hame an' muirland fauld, —
Ilka sonsie, cheerfu' mither,
An' ilk father douce an' auld!
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's, &c.

Weel I mind the ploys an' jokin'
Lads and lasses used to ha'e —
Moonlight trysts an' Sabbath wanders
O'er the haughs an' on the brae.
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's, &c.

Truer lads an' bonnier lasses
Never danced beneath the moon; —
Love an' Friendship dwelt amang them,
And their daffin ne'er was done.
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's, &c.

I ha'e left them now for-ever;
But, to greet would bairnly be:
Better sing, an' wish kind Heaven
Frae a' dule may keep them free.
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's, &c.

Where'er the path o' life may lead me,
Ae thing sure — I winna mane
If I meet wi' hands an' hearts
Like those o' cantie Ochtergaen.
Chorus — Happy, happy be their dwallin's
By the burn an' in the glen —
Cheerie lasses, cantie callans,
Are they a' in Ochtergaen.