Flowers 'o the Forest

(To learn more about this melody and to hear it, and to learn more about other Scottish folk songs, go to www.contemplator.com.)

     Flowers of the Forest is a traditional Scottish lament, a song of mourning and remembrance.  It is also a ceremony for departed loved ones which has become a tradition in the Scottish community.  It is an on-going part of Scottish Highland Games and Festivals across the country to recognize those family members that have departed.

I

I've seen the smiling
Of fortune beguiling,
I've tasted her pleasures,
And felt her decay;
Sweet is her blessing,
And kind her caressing,
But now they are fled
And fled far away.

I've seen the forest
Adorned the foremost,
Wi' flowers o' the fairest
Baith pleasant and gay,
Sae bonnie was their blooming,
Their scent the air perfuming,
But now they are withered away.

I've seen the morning,
With gold hills adorning,
And loud tempests storming,
Before parting day,
I've seen Tweed's silver streams,
Glitt'ring in the sunny beams,
Grow drumlie and dark,
As they roll'd on their way;

O fickle fortune!
Why this cruel sportin?
Oh! Why thus perplex
Us poor sons of a day?
Thy frown canna fear me,
Thy smile canno cheer me,
Since the flowers o' the forest
Are a' wede away.

Copyright (c) 2005 Greenlaw Family Association. All rights reserved.