Classic Poem

There's nae hame like the hame o' youth—
Nae ither spot sae fair:
Nae ither faces look sae kind
As the smilin' faces there.
An' I ha'e sat by monie streams—
Ha'e travell'd monie ways;
But the fairest spot on the earth to me
Is on bonnie Ordé Braes.

An ell-lang wee thing there I ran
Wi' the ither neebor bairns,
To pu' the hazel's shinin' nuts,
An' to wander 'mang the fern's;
An' to feast on the bramble-berries brown,
An' gather the glossy slaes
By the burnie's side; an' aye synsyne
I ha'e lov'd sweet Ordé Braes.

The memories o' my father's hame,
An' its kindly dweller's a',
O' the friends I lov'd wi' a young heart's love,
Ere Care that heart cou'd thaw,
Are twined wi' the stanes o' the silver burn,
An' its fairy crooks an' bays,
That onward sang 'neath the gowden broom
Upon bonnie Ordé Braes.

Aince in a day there were happy hames
By the bonnie Ordé's side:—
Nane ken how meikle peace an' love
In a straw roof'd cot can bide.
But thae hames are gane, an' the hand o' Time
The roofless wa's doth raze:—
Laneness an' Sweetness hand in hand
Gang ower the Ordé Braes.

O! an' the sun were shinin' now,
An' O! an' I were there,
Wi' twa three friends o' auld langsyne
My wanderin' joy to share!
For, though on the hearth o' my bairnhood's hame
The flock o' the hills doth graze,
Some kind hearts live to love me yet
Upon bonnie Ordé Braes.