Skye in June

The sound from the pipes lapped away

And the girls on the beach danced on to day

The diluted dark of the northerly night

The pale darkness washing away,

Skye in June, cloudy moon

Days of passion and delight.

The wind in the corries called us apart

MacGregor and I

The Cuillin talked to the thoughtful heart

Of the fresh dawn of day,

And a soft mist hung over Skye

On the sea sway.

A wandering sea-gull yesterday

Bore me up on the wing, come away come away,

And gazing over the summer seas

Heard the beckoning song of the Hebrides

Legends begun before Ossian's time

Echoed in waves and the setting sun.

The longboat breaks the flying spray

It is dark and cool

I lie on the rocks and wait for her words

At a dropping pool,

By the bracken fire in the dwindling light

She soothes me away and into the night.

Far out to sea in the morning air

Life danced on the ocean so boundless and wide,

In cold salted breezes dispersing them there

Scarcely noticed soft memories retreat with the tide

Chilly spray, lonely wilds

I'm Lord of the Isles.

Richard Henderson