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  • The 51st Highland Division’s Farewell to Sicily
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The 51st Highland Division’s Farewell to Sicily

Hamish Henderson

The pipie is dozie, the pipie is fey,
He winna come roon’ for his vino the day.
The sky ow’r Messina is unco an’ grey,
An ’a’ the bricht chaulmers are eerie.

Then fare weel ye banks o’ Sicily,
Fare ye weel ye valley and shaw.
There’s nae Jock will mourn the kyles o’ ye,
Puir bliddy swaddies are wearie.

Fare weel, ye banks o’ Sicily,
Fare ye weel, ye valley and shaw.
There’s nae hame can smoor the wiles o’ ye,
Puir bliddy swaddies are wearie.

Then doon the stair and line the waterside,
Wait your turn, the ferry’s awa’.
Then doon the stair and line the waterside,
A’ the bricht chaulmers are eerie.

The drummie is polisht, the drummie is braw
He cannae be seen for his webbin’ ava.
He’s beezed himsel’ up for a photy an a’
Tae leave wi’ his Lola, his dearie.

Sae fare weel, ye dives o’ Sicily
(Fare ye weel, ye shieling an’ ha’),
We’ll a’ mind shebeens and bothies
Whaur kind signorinas were cheerie.

Fare weel, ye banks o’ Sicily
(Fare ye weel, ye shielings an’ ha’);
We’ll a’ mind shebeens and bothies
Whaur Jock made a date wi’ his dearie.

Then tune the pipes and drub the tenor drum
(Leave your kit this side o’ the wa’).
Then tune the pipes and drub the tenor drum
A’ the bricht chaulmers are eerie.

Tune: Farewell to the Creeks


Hamish Henderson

Collected Poems and Songs, edited by Raymond Ross (Curly Snake Publishing, 2000)

Reproduced by permission of the Estate of Hamish Henderson.

Tags:

drums Italy leave-taking Scots Scots soldiers songs World War II
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Hamish Henderson1919 - 2002

Hamish Henderson was the founding father of Scotland’s 20th-century folk renaissance. He himself collected, translated, composed and created in a wide variety of poetic and lyric forms, making it hard to classify him narrowly as a poet.
More about Hamish Henderson

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