The
Liltin
(The Flowers Of The Forest)
Jean Elliot
Old
Air
1.
I’ve heard them liltin at the ewe milkin,
Lasses
a-liltin before dawn o day.
Now
there’s a moanin on ilka green loanin,
The
Flowers o the Forest are a wede away.
2. At bughts in the mornin, nae blithe lads are scornin,
Lasses are lanely, and dowie, and wae;
Nae daffin, nae gabbin, but sighin and sabbin;
Ilk ane lifts her leglin, and hies her away.
3. At e'en in the gloamin, nae swankies are roamin
'Bout stacks wi the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk maid sits drearie, lamentin her dearie,
The Flowers of the Forest are a wede away.
4. In har'st at the shearin, nae youths now are jeerin,
Bandsters are runkled, and lyart, or grey;
At fair or at preachin, nae wooin nae fleechin,
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
5. Dool and wae for the order sent our lads to the Border,
The English for ance by guile wan the day;
The Flowers of the Forest that fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land lie cauld in the clay.
6. We'll hae nae mair liltin at the ewe milkin.
Women and bairns are heartless and wae;
Sighin and moanin on ilka green loanin,
The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.
This song, written in the 19th Century but set to a much older tune commemorates the men of Selkirk who died at Flodden. Legend recalls that of the eighty men who left the town, only one, a man by the name of Fletcher, came back. Fletcher was carrying a captured English banner from the town of Macclesfield and once he returned to Selkirk he used his last reserves of strength to cast the flag before collapsing. This ritual is remembered in the annual "Common-Riding" festival where flags representing the Royal Burgh, the different town guilds and ex-servicemen are all cast in the Market Square.