dots-menu
×
Home  »  library  »  poem  »  The Hundred Pipers

C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Hundred Pipers

By Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766–1845)

WI’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’,

Wi’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’,

We’ll up an’ gie them a blaw, a blaw,

Wi’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’.

Oh! it’s owre the Border awa, awa,

It’s owre the Border awa, awa,

We’ll on and we’ll march to Carlisle ha’,

Wi’ its yetts, its castell, an’ a’, an’ a’.

Oh! our sodger lads looked braw, looked braw,

Wi’ their tartans, kilts, an’ a’, an’ a’,

Wi’ their bonnets, an’ feathers, an’ glittering gear,

An’ pibrochs sounding sweet and clear.

Will they a’ return to their ain dear glen?

Will they a’ return, our Hieland men?

Second-sighted Sandy looked fu’ wae,

And mothers grat when they marched away,

Wi’ a hundred pipers, etc.

Oh, wha is foremost o’ a’, o’ a’?

Oh, wha does follow the blaw, the blaw?

Bonnie Charlie, the king o’ us a’, hurra!

Wi’ his hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’.

His bonnet an’ feather he’s wavin’ high,

His prancin’ steed maist seems to fly,

The nor’ wind plays wi’ his curly hair,

While the pipers blaw in an unco flare.

Wi’ a hundred pipers, etc.

The Esk was swollen, sae red and sae deep,

But shouther to shouther the brave lads keep;

Twa thousand swam owre to fell English ground,

An’ danced themselves dry to the pibroch’s sound.

Dumfoundered, the English saw—they saw—

Dumfoundered, they heard the blaw, the blaw;

Dumfoundered, they a’ ran awa, awa,

From the hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’.

Wi’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’,

Wi’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’,

We’ll up and gie them a blaw, a blaw,

Wi’ a hundred pipers an’ a’, an’ a’.