Traditional: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Dirge of a Highland Chief

Traditional

“Dirge of a Highland Chief” as printed in The Book of Scottish Song (1843).

Traditional: Collected Lyrics Text 95 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

Son of the mighty and the free,

Loved leader of the faithful brave,

Was it for high-rank'd chief like thee

To fill a nameless grave?

Oh, hadst thou slumber'd with the slain.

Had glory's death-bed been thy lot,

Even though on red Culloden's plain,

We then had mourn'd thee not.

But darkly closed thy morn of fame,

That morn whose sunbeams rose so fair:

Revenge alone may breathe thy name,

The watch-word of despair.

Yet, oh, if gallant spirit's power

Has e'er ennobled death like thine,

Then glory mark'd thy parting hour,

Last of a mighty line.

O'er thy own bowers the sunshine falls,

But cannot cheer their lonely gloom;

Those beams that gild thy native walls

Are sleeping on thy tomb.

Spring on the mountains laughs the while,

Thy green woods wave in vernal air;

But the loved scenes may vainly smile—

Not e'en thy dust is there.

On thy blue hills no bugle sound

Is mixing with the torrent's roar;

Unmark'd the red deer sport around—

Thou lead'st the chase no more.

Thy gates are closed, thy halls are still—

Those halls where swell'd the coral strain:

They hear the wild winds murmuring shrill,

And all is hush'd again.

Thy bard his pealing harp has broke—

His fire, his joy of song, is past!

One lay to mourn thy fate he woke,

His saddest, and his last.

No other theme to him is dear

Than lofty deeds of thine:

Hush'd be the strain thou canst not hear,

Last of a mighty line.

Credits

Written by Traditional

Traditional words. 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, “Dirge of a Highland Chief”

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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