Matheson Collection > Gaelic songs of Mary MacLeod

sister, and this fact, along with the style of the song itself,
makes it, I think, certain that Mary was not the author.
Mr. Nicolson has collected in Raasay a less complete version.
The free rendering is in the metre of the original.
O alas for the hero
whom the sea-wave is hiding;
to the mountain-chase now
'tis not thou shalt be riding.
Ne'er I feared 'twould betide thee,
(vain O vain is my weeping)
that in ocean's wide depth
thou shouldst ever be sleeping;
While her rudder should stand
and thy hand be to guide her,
though the tempest should rave
and the wave crash beside her;
While her timbers and gear
should cleave stoutly together,
with thy hand on her helm
any storm she might weather.
But fierce was the gale
and thy sail it hath tattered,
it hath roused the black waves,
and thy brave boat is shattered.
HÙ o ro.
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