Oran Ailein (Leaving Strathconon)

Teine oidhche geamhradh Nar sheasamh air an làr Sheinn sinn òran Ailein Sèist is rann 'S an trèana ruith cho taibhseil Mar chuimhne tron a' ghleann 'S iomadh loit nach tig slàn LEAVING STRATHCONON We're the emigrant ones, Not the last in the line You're your father's son, And I am mine And all of our northwords Turn distant and small In the end they mean nothing, No, nothing at all. Right here's the river's source, And it flows out to the world And the heart of Caledonia Is drowning in the flood Was there hunger in our striving? Did the light shine in our dark? Was everything we ever needed Always right here from the start? Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your mountains behind Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your father's home behind. We stood on a hundred gangways, That's the way it's always been. I walked out beyond Calvary With all my kith and kin In the war of the world We conquer and roam Lie the wounds that stay bleeding And raw in the soul. Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your mountains behind Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your father's home behind. After the raging flame, The embers burn slow We're leaving, leaving, leaving, Till there's nowhere left to go The seas, the slums, the battlefields, The shipyards, the tides, The straths, the glens, the drove roads, All the prairies and the mines. It's a still, autumn morning, And it covers Loch Meig And all the trees across the valley In a blaze of dying green I've seen too many tail-lights, Didn't need to say goodbye We're just souls across a shrinking world In a distant starlit night. Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your mountains behind Please believe me Something in me died Leaving Strathconon And your father's home behind.