Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

254 ORIGINAL POEMS.
Dear Islay, good Is! ay !
Thou holy-soil'd Islay !
My fathers are sleeping
Beneath thy green sod.
O Islay ! kind Islay !
Well, well be thou keeping
That dear dust awaiting
The great day of God.
Old Islay ! God bless thee,
Thou good mother, Islay !
Bless thy wide ocean !
And bless thy sweet lea!
And Islay, dear Islay !
My heart's best emotion.
For ever and ever
Shall centre in thee !
The following extract, from Mr. Campbell's "West
Highland Tales," may be read with some interest in
connection with the above : — "No Highlander, if his
frienc^s can help it, is buried anywhere but at home.
Coffins may be seen on board the steamers, conveying to
the outer islands the bodies of those who have died on
the mainland. It is a poetic wish to be buried amongst
friends, and one that is in full force to this day. The
curse of Scotland may occasionally intrude even on such
solemn occasions ; but a funeral is almost always decor-
ously conducted. In some places, as I am told, a piper
may still be seen at the head of the funeral procession,
plaving a dirge. There :s no want of reverence ; but
death is treated as an ordinary event. I have seen a
man's tombstone, with a blank for the date, standing at
the end of his house while he was quite well. "-r— Vol. i ,
p. 2.35.