A happy St. Andrew's day to everybody. On this day in which the SNP bring forth their referendum question which I and many others hope will bring independence to this proud land, may I give you a few lines from our National Poet, Rabbie Burns, born just a few miles from where I am now, in Alloway near Ayr. This poem was written by Burns to represent what he would have said had he been King Robert the Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn, 1314, when Scotland finally won it's independence from England only for the Scottish Nobility to sell it for English gold nearly 400 years later.
'Scots, wha hæ wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome tæ yer gory bed,
Or tæ Victorie!
'Now's the day, and now's the hour:
See the front o' battle lour,
See approach proud Edward's power -
Chains and Slaverie!
'Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward's grave?
Wha sæ base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
'Wha, for Scotland's king and law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or Freeman fa',
Let him on wi' me!
'By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
'Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow! -
Let us do or dee!'
My apologies to anyone who doesn't understand the Scots dialect but it doesn't sound the same in English.
