Return No More

In bonny Strathnaver we had game and plenty
Our moorland birds, our mountain deer
Clear ran the rivers with trout and salmon
Before the gentry forced their game laws here

[Chorus]
Return no more, the piper's playing
The ship must sail and so must we
Return no more, my heart is breaking
And bitter tears I'll cry for thee

For Cheviot sheep and for greed they drove us
From our native homes and our rightful land
It was Patrick Sellars put this sorrow on us
With the fire and the guns of his clearance gangs

[Chorus]
Return no more, the piper's playing
The ship must sail and so must we
Return no more, my heart is breaking
And bitter tears I'll cry for thee

They burned our houses and our belongings
They drove us out with what clothes we wore
In bitter winter devoid of shelter
To where the cruel waves break upon the rocky shore

[Chorus]
Return no more, the piper's playing
The ship must sail and so must we
Return no more, my heart is breaking
And bitter tears I'll cry for thee

No work in Glasgow, no food to travel
Among the rocks our cattle died
We sold salt herrings, we lived on nettles
Till there was little left us but just our pride

[Chorus]
Return no more, the piper's playing
The ship must sail and so must we
Return no more, my heart is breaking
And bitter tears I'll cry for thee

Then by the thousands and the tens of thousands
As indentured servants our passage paid
With our wedding rings and our father's medals
To sail for Canadian shores or Americay

[Chorus]
Return no more, the piper's playing
The ship must sail and so must we
Return no more, my heart is breaking
And bitter tears I'll cry for thee