X: 1
T: Norland Wind
T: I saw the wild geese flee
N: English translation of Scots lyrics
C: melody: Jim Reid
C: words: Violet Jacob 1915
F:http://john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/Scotland/song/Norland_Wind_WE.abc	 2024-04-26 024311 UT
K:
W: 1: "Oh tell me what was on your road, you roaring Norland wind?
W: As you come blowing from the land that's never from my mind.
W: My feet they travel England but I'm dying for the North."
W: "My man, I saw the silver tides run up the Firth o Forth."
W:
W: 2: "Oh wind, I ken them well enough and fine they fall and rise,
W: And fain I'd feel the creeping mist on yonder shore that lies.
W: But tell me as ye pass them by, what saw ye on the way?"
W: "My man, I rocked the roving gulls that sail above the Tay."
W:
W: 3: "But saw ye nothing, lying wind, before ye came to Fife?
W: For there's much lying beyond the Tay that's more to me than life."
W: "My man, I swept the Angus braes that you havn't trod for years."
W: "Oh wind, forgive a homeless lad that cannot see for tears."
W:
W: 4: "And far above the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
W: A long, long skein of beating wings with their heads toward the sea,
W: And aye their crying voices trailed behind them on the air."
W: "Oh wind, have mercy, hold your tongue for I dare not listen more."