Caoidh airson cor na Gaidhealtachd agus fogradh nan Gaidheal

Caoidh airson cor na Gaidhealtachd agus fogradh nan Gaidheal by Stewart is a Gaelic lament poem likely composed in the mid to late 19th century. The work mourns the altered state of the Scottish Highlands and the exile of its people, blending elegy, local praise, and social protest. The poem addresses a traveler and sends farewells to beloved Perthshire landscapes—Schiehallion, Beinn a’ Chuallaich, Loch Ericht, Ben Alder, Drumochter, Loch Garry, and other glens—recalling hunts, droving, music on the great pipes, and the courage and loyalty of Highland warriors. It contrasts that vibrant past with an empty present: shielings are deserted, dairies silent, and bracken overruns abandoned grazings. The people have been scattered to towns and overseas to make room for sheep and deer, enriching landlords while draining the glens of defenders. The speaker warns that flocks cannot bear sword or shield should invasion come, and closes in solitary grief, like a latter-day Ossian, remembering a generous, close-knit Gaeldom now transformed and diminished.

Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.