Sixth Annual Genealogy Poetry Challenge - Scotland

Bill West of West In New England is hosting The Sixth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge

1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region one of your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local animal. It can even be a poem you or one of your ancestors have written! Or if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video of someone performing the song. 

2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source where you found it.). If you wish to enter an older post, you may as long as long as it has not appeared here in an earlier Poetry Challenge. 

3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's home or life, or the area of the country where they lived.

To celebrate my wife’s Wallace roots, I thought I would share some poetry from Scotland. I traveled to the Scottish Poetry Library.

A Red, Red Rose – Robert Burns (1759-1796)

O my Luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair are thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my Dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile!

And here’s The Rowan Tree, by Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766-1845) - sung by Kenneth McKellar (1927-2010)




Entries from past years:

• First Annual: Emilius Buczi – Hungary ; Julian Ursin Niemciwicz – Poland and Lithuania ; TS Eliot – St. Louis and London
• Second Annual: Texas State Anthem
• Third Annual: Chaim Bialik – Volhynia, Russia
• Fourth Annual: Portsmouth, Hamsphire – Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle
• Fifth Annual: I was a no-show