The Hills An' Burns At Hame Poem by Alexander Anderson

Hoo cantie was I in my youth,
Afore I ever thocht to range,
Or leave my hame, an' be, in sooth,
A weary pilgrim seeking change.
O, little do we ken what turns
Life sets afore us in oor track;
An' noo, when life is wearin' dune,
I fain wad turn an' wan'er back.


I want to see ance mair the hills
Where every heicht an' howe is kent—
The hills that I a laddie speiled,
To spread the muir-burn on the bent.
We saw Todholes tak' up the sign,
The Knowe range answered back wi' pride,
An' far across the Vale o' Nith
The Cairn hills spread it far an' wide.


I want to daun'er by the burns
In which I paidled up an' doun,
Or fished when, like a heaven on earth,
Some glorious holiday cam' roun'.
I want to see them ane an' a',
To meet auld friends an' ha'e a crack,
For noo, when life is wearin' dune,
I fain wad turn an' wan'er back.


What need to tell that I have seen
The Mississipi roll along;
Have heard Niagara toss on high
The thunder of his mighty song?
Have seen Missouri, broad and deep,
Roll worthy of its sounding name;
Ah, still I fain wad wan'er back
To see the wee bit burns at hame.


What though my home has been beside
Huge mountains tumbled to the skies,
That loomed far up amid the clouds
To veil their heads from human eyes—
Or where, like oceans, lakes spread out
As wide as eye could range or see?
But yet, when life is wearin' dune,
The hills an' burns at hame for me!


Ay, we may wander far and wide
When youth is high and hopes are fair,
Nor cast one look behind to see
The light of boyhood gleaming there.
But press amid the throng, and join
The rough, wild marching of our kind,
Till, footsore with the weary way,
We leave the ranks and lag behind.


And then our dreams, that led us on,
Take voice, and, in their murmurings,
Whisper of other days and years,
When life was rich with golden things.
Then we in fancy see again
The hills around our early home,
And, as the vision grows, we feel
No more the forward wish to roam.


An' will I turn an' wan'er back
To where my life began, an' see
Ance mair the frien's that I wad like
To ha'e around me when I dee?
For oh, I weary an' grow fain,
Though I am gettin' auld an' lame,
To see auld places ance again
Beside the burns an' hills at hame.