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The Highland Widow's Lament


 Oh, I am come to the low Countrie, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Without a penny in my purse, To buy a meal to me. It was na sae in the Highland hills, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Nae woman in the Country wide Sae happy was as me. For then I had a score o' kye, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Feeding on yon hill sae high, And giving milk to me. And there I had three score o' yowes, Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Skipping on yon bonie knowes, And casting woo' to me. I was the happiest of a' the Clan, Sair, sair may I repine; For Donald was the brawest man, And Donald he was mine. Till Charlie Stewart cam at last, Sae far to set us free; My Donald's arm was wanted then For Scotland and for me. Their waefu' fate what need I tell, Right to the wrang did yield; My Donald and his Country fell, Upon Culloden field. Ochon, O, Donald, Oh! Ochon, Ochon, Ochrie! Nae woman in the warld wide, Sae wretched now as me.

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Annette Crosbie

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1794 and is read here by Annette Crosbie.

More about this song

This Jacobite song was published in the Scots Musical Museum in 1796.

Here a widow laments the loss of her husband and the defeat of the Jacobites at the battle of Culloden in 1746. The song is inspired by the failed Jacobite uprising of 1745, lead by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720 - 1788). The Jacobites sought to restore the deposed Stuart dynasty to the Scottish and English throne.

Pauline Mackay

Themes for this song

jacobitismunhappinessdeath

Locations for this song

Culloden

Selected for 18 April

Two days after the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden, another poem bemoaning that defeat. And another touching and convincing piece in the persona of a woman, something at which Burns excelled. Many would, 'come to the low country' in the days following the slaughter in which, 'my Donald and his country fell'.

Donny O'Rourke

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