John Leyden: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Land of my Fathers

John Leyden

“Land of my Fathers” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

John Leyden: Collected Lyrics Text 1 1843 · historical text
Public domainScottish songFolk
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Book of Scottish Song, edited by Alexander Whitelaw, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Land of my fathers! though no mangrove here

O'er thy blue streams her flexile branches rear,

Nor scaly palm her finger'd scions shoot,

Nor lucious guava wave her yellow fruit,

Nor golden apples glimmer from the tree;

Land of dark heaths and mountains, thou art free

Free as his lord the peasant treads the plain,

And heaps his harvest on the groaning wain.

Proud of his laws, tenacious of his right,

And vain of Scotia's old unconquer'd might:

Dear native valleys! may ye long retain

The charter'd freedom of the mountain swain.

Long, 'mid your sounding glades, in union sweet,

May rural innocence and beauty meet;

And still be duly heard, at twilight calm,

From every cot the peasant's chanted psalm!

Then, Jedworth, though thy ancient choirs shall fade,

And time lay bare each lofty colonnade,

From the damp roof the massy sculptures die,

And in their vaults thy rifted arches lie;

Still in these vales shall angel harps prolong,

By Jed's pure stream, a sweeter evening song

Than long processions, once, with mystic zeal,

Pour'd to the harp and solemn organ's peal.

Credits

Written by John Leyden

Words by John Leyden. Historical text published in The Book of Scottish Song (1843); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Book of Scottish Song (1843), edited by Alexander Whitelaw, “Land of my Fathers”

Every contribution in this 1843 anthology predates modern copyright terms by more than a century; any contributor died at least 130 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide (life+70 terms expired no later than 2020).

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-12. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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