Robert Nicoll

My Hame

O! I HA'E loved the heather hills,
    Where summer breezes blaw;
An' I ha'e loved the glades that gang
    Through yonder greenwood-shaw!
But now the spot maist dear to me
    Is where the moon doth beam
Down through the sleepin' leaves, to watch
    My ain wee cantie hame.

My cantie hame! its roof o' straw,
    Aneath yon thorn I see—
Yon cosie bush that couthie keeps
    My wife and bairnies three.
There's green grass round my cottage sma',
    An' by it rins a stream,
Whilk ever sings a bonnie sang
    To glad my cantie hame.

When delvin' in the sheugh at e'en,
    Its curlin' reek I see;
I ken the precious things at hame
    Are thinkin' upon me.
I ken my restin' chair is set,
    Where comes the warmest gleam—
I ken there's langin' hearts in thee,
    My ain wee cantie hame.

O! can I do but love it weel,
    When a' thing's lovesome there?
My cheerfu' wife—my laughin' weans—
    The morn an' e'enin' prayer.
The Sabbath's wander in the woods,
    An' by the saut-sea faem;—
The warst o' hearts might learn to love
    My ain wee cantie hame.

The blessin's o' a hame-bless'd heart—
    Be warm upon it a'!
On wife an' bairns may love an' peace
    Like sunbeams joyous fa'!
Blithe thoughts are rinnin' through my heart,
    O! thoughts I canna name—
Sae glad are they—while thinkin' o'
    My ain wee cantie hame.