Tosdaibh, bithibh sàmhach
Cha n’ àill leinn sibh bhi magadh oirnn,
Bheir ar crìdh do n’ Ghàelic,
’Sa chaoidh gu bràth cha dealaich ri.
’S ’n uair thig rìs do ar tìr
Le ceòl pìob ’us cridhcalas,
Aran grinn, ’s còmhdach’ ìm’
Agus cīr-mheala leis
Gheibh sibh uainn gu càirdeal
A shàsachadh ’ur stamagan,
’Us seinnibh do na Ghaelic
Na h’-Ardlich ’s na h’-Athalich.
Nuair bhios Goill mar na doill
’Us an oidhch a’ luidhe orr,
Gu ro thruagh, crith gu luath,
’Us le fuachd ’g am meileachadh,
Bidh sinne air ar blàth’chadh,
’Sa Ghàelic ’gar teasachadh,
’Us caoimhneas, gean ’us càirdeas
Siòr fhàs ann ar n-anamaibh.
Although my native country, I am quite ashamed of them. Is the
schoolmaster a Highlander? Was it he who wrote the inscription “_Mile
failte_” (a thousand welcomes) on the top of the arch on the occasion
of a certain gentleman up the country taking home his English bride? I
passed under it, and expressed my astonishment to see it, as the children
spoke nothing but English on the street. Is the spark still alive in his
soul? Is that spark capable of being enkindled into a flame? _A thraill!
Na’m bithinn ann ad ait, bheirinn oidhearp air mo chainnt-mhathaireil a
theasairginn, ged a bhiodh i mar an t-uan ann am fiaclan casgraidh an
leomhainn._ Ye slave! Were I in your place, I would endeavour to rescue
my mother-tongue, should it be like the lamb in the devouring teeth of
the lion.
[11] A channel from a river to a mill, or a mill-dam.
[12] _An t-alltan burn._ When the Gaelic was spoken in Glenisla, the
name of the stream was _an t-alltan_, the same as we would say in broad
Scotch, the burnie, that is the small stream. But when the Gaelic ceased
to be spoken, and the broad Scotch came in its place, they called it an
t-alltan-burn. Now burn is taken from the Gaelic word _burn_, which means
water, as the word whisky is taken from _uisge_ (water), also. In singing
this poem, where two, or three, or four verses are following one another
without the chorus, let them be sung to the same key. It will sing to the
air of “_Och nan och, ’us och mo leon!_”