THE YOUNG HIGHLAND ROVER

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This April is the 272nd anniversary of the Battle of Culloden. Robert Burns wrote frequently in praise and memory of the Jacobite cause, not a popular opinion in his native Ayrshire. This poem is thought to be a reference to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, on the run after the disastrous battle.

“Loud blaw the frosty breezes, The snaws the mountains cover;

Like winter on me seizes, Since my young Highland rover

Far wanders nations over.

Where'er he go, where'er he stray, May heaven be his warden;

Return him safe to fair Strathspey, And bonie Castle-Gordon!

The trees, now naked groaning, Shall soon wi' leaves be hinging,

The birdies dowie moaning, Shall a' be blythely singing,

And every flower be springing;

Sae I'll rejoice the lee-lang day, When by his mighty Warden

My youth's return'd to fair Strathspey, And bonie Castle-Gordon.”

https://soundcloud.com/words-of-burns/the-young-highland-rover