Sublime is Scotia's mountain land,
And beautiful and wild;
By tyranny's unhallow'd hand
Unsullied, undefiled.
The free and fearless are her sons,
The good and brave her sires;
And, oh! her every spirit glows
With freedom's festal fires!
When dark oppression far and wide
Its gory deluge spread,
While nations, ere they pass'd away,
For hope and vengeance bled,
She from her rocky bulwarks high
The banner'd eagle hurl'd,
And trampled on triumphant Rome,
The empress of the world.
She gave the Danish wolf a grave
Deep in her darkest glens,
And chased the vaunting Norman hound
Back to his lowland dens;
And though the craven Saxon strove
Her regal lord to be,
Her hills were homes to nurse the brave,
The fetterless, and free.
Peace to the spirits of the dead,
The noble, and the brave;
Peace to the mighty who have bled
Our Fatherland to save!
We revel in the pure delight
Of deeds achieved by them,
To crown their worth and valour bright
With glory's diadem.