Frae the friends and Land I love



Frae the friends and Land I love, 
Driv'n by Fortune's felly spite; 
Frae my best Beloved I rove, 
Never mair to taste delight.
Never mair maun hope to find 
Ease frae toil, relief frae care:
When Remembrance wracks the mind, 
Pleasures but unveil Despair. 

Brightest climes shall mirk appear, 
Desart ilka blooming shore; 
Till the Fates, nae mair severe, 
Friendship, Love and Peace restore.
Till Revenge, wi' laurell'd head, 
Bring our Banished hame again; 
And ilk loyal, bonie lad 
Cross the seas, and win his ain.

Listen

Download the Adobe Flash player to listen to this content

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1792 and is read here by Shirley Henderson.

Themes for this song

jacobitism nationalism unhappiness

Selected for 24 July

Our previous selection praised the Covenanters who fought to keep Episcopalian worship out of Scotland. To the puritan inclined Presbyterians it smacked of 'Popery'. It was on the 23rd of July that 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' landed on the island of Eriskay to lay claim to Britain for the Stuart line and the Roman Catholic faith. By the 24th, Charles's campaign was well underway. We offer here in commemoration of that doomed undertaking, another of Burns's Jacobite poems.

Donny O'Rourke

Skip to top

BBC links

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.