Poem by Robert Nicoll

Ordé Braes

THERE'S nae hame like the hame o' youth—
    Nae ither spot sae fair:
Nae ither faces look sae kind
    As the smilin' faces there.
An' I ha'e sat by monie streams—
    Ha'e travell'd monie ways;
But the fairest spot on the earth to me
    Is on bonnie Ordé Braes.

An ell-lang wee thing there I ran
    Wi' the ither neebor bairns,
To pu' the hazel's shinin' nuts,
    An' to wander 'mang the ferns;
An' to feast on the bramble-berries brown,
    An' gather the glossy slaes
By the burnie's side; an' aye sinsyne
    I ha'e lov'd sweet Ordé Braes.

The memories o' my father's hame,
    An' its kindly dwellers a',
O' the friends I lov'd wi' a young heart's love,
    Ere care that heart cou'd thraw,
Are twined wi' the stanes o' the silver burn,
    An' its fairy crooks an' bays,
That onward sang 'neath the gowden broom
    Upon bonnie Ordé Braes.

Aince in a day there were happy hames
    By the bonnie Ordé's side:—
Nane ken how meikle peace an' love
    In a straw-roof'd cot can bide.
But thae hames are gane, an' the hand'o' time
    The roofless wa's doth raze;—
Laneness an' sweetness hand in hand
    Gang ower the Ordé Braes.

O! an' the sun were shinin' now,
    An' O! an' I were there,
Wi' twa three friends o' auld langsyne
    My wanderin' joy to share!
For, though on the hearth o' my bairnhood's hame
    The flock o' the hills doth graze,
Some kind hearts live to love me yet
    Upon bonnie Ordé Braes.

1. Fiddler Johnnie
2. The Place That I Love Best
3. Our Auld Hearthstane
4. Janet Macbean
5. The Dominie

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