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  • Lament for the Lads
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Lament for the Lads

Neil Munro

Ochone o for na gillean departed,
    Sundered by seas from us, buried afar.
Gone are the lads who were leal and high-hearted
    And we are now dreeing the dolours of war.
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    Sorrow may fade but your fame shall endure,
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    While flower’s in the forest and wind’s on the moor.

Children of storm, they were cradled in thunder.
    Sound they could sleep in the roar of the guns.
Sleet of the shells to the Gael was a wonder,
    But nothing to daunton our tempest-bred sons.
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    Deep from their graves and the years dead and gone,
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    All of your fore-folk were crying you on.

Sweet be their sleep now wherever they’re lying,
    Far though they be from the hills of their home.
Women remembering the cause of their dying
    Shall with sweet flowers to place over them come.
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    The dark has come down and now sunshine is o’er.
’Illean, ’illean, ’illean,
    And you, who were starlight, shall cheer us no more.


Neil Munro

Tags:

elegies remembrance the dead war

About this poem

from Bagpipe Ballads and Other Poems: the collected poems of Neil Munro, ed. Bob Preston (Kennedy & Boyd, 2010)

First published in the Daily Record, 24 December 1930. It was inspired by ‘Cumha nan Gillean’ by Calum MacPhàrlain (1853-1931).

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Neil Munro1864 - 1930

Highlander Neil Munro left his native Argyll to find work in Glasgow, but the Highlands stayed in his heart, and featured in most of his literary work, most famously in his Para Handy stories.
More about Neil Munro

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