Extract from the Homesick Song

EXTRACTS from Homesick Song, written on eve of MacAskill's departure to Australia (translated from Gaelic).

Oh I am so worried/To think that I'll leave/The first Day of the New Year/Little joy there is for me/To go to the country/Where riches are found/Australia the Great/Far away o'er the sea

Though trying my best/To write with my pen/It's hard to be telling/How my spirit is now/My heart is not lively/It's filled with woe/My joy has been smothered/And tortured by the pain

My blessings to Berneray/Best under the sun/With fields that are fertile/For grazing the herds/While grain of the best/Will grow there with ease/On sloping green pastures/Young lambs are at play

If I should reach safely/The boats' landing place/Then courage and toil would/Be strong in my heart/Though I'd get a palace/The best in the land/The sheilings of Berneray/I would still prefer

If I were a seagull/So light in flight/I'd soar away lightly/Though lonely and sad/On wings I would travel/Nor seek to come down/Till over the green pastures/Where I was brought up

If I keep, as usual/My health and my strength/I'll not stay in that place/Forever for pay/The ferry would take me/O'er the top of green waves/To go to my kindred/Who live in the North