Another wonderful poem by Robert Louis Stevenson (he was so much more than just the author of Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde). This poem, along with the Skye Boat Song attempts to capture some of the romance and mystery that surrounds this, the most famous of all the Scottish islands.
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul:
Where is that glory now?
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give the lad that's gone!
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.