for Captain A.A.C. Farquharson, Invercauld*

As I cam doon the Pinkie Brae
An ben the rodden den,
I thocht I heard the trampin
O' Monaltrie's Heilanmen...

'Twis jist the rattle o the breem,
The reeshle o the whin,
Yet I'd sweir I felt their passin,
In the pairtin o the win.

A yalla yeitie bobbit oot
An wheeplit ower the lan,
The Crags o Darroch whispered,
'Tis the bonnie Baron Ban!'

The snaw lay safe on Beinn a Bhuird
Fin he cried oot the clan,
Bit fa wid spurn the fife cockade
An caa himsel a man?

Ballochbuie, Lui, Dui,
B' the Gallows tree o Mar,
Men o Gairn, an Muick, an Tullich,
Aa the wylins o Cromar,
Laid by the coulter an the crook,
An took the road tae war.

Then 'twis brogue.on bracken at the guns,
The bravest bore the cross,
Oh cry aloud the/coronach,
For bitter wis wir loss!
The flooer o Monaltrie's men
Lie beddit in the moss.

An helpless wis the hameless faun
That felt the frost o fear;
An reekin cruel, the bluidy haun
That slew the rinnin deer.

The Shiels are teem ower Shenval,
The braes are bare on Glack,
A yalla yeitie piped them oot —
A corbie played them back.

* Col. Francis Farquharson of Monaltrie (also known as the Baron Ban) led the men of Deeside in the fatal charge at Culloden. With Clan Chattan, the Deesiders were the first to fall on the enemy guns. Of the 200 Deeside men in the Jacobite army, very few survived; many were slain where they lay, wounded, on the orders of Cumberland. The places mentioned in the poem are to be found in Place Names of Upper Deeside, compiled by E. Allan and A. Watson.