A Highland Regiment/Wanderer's Desire

CANNOT sleep for thinking Of things that I have seen About the highways of the world, Where fields are fresh and green, And hedges lie on either hand With a white road between.

I cannot rest for dreaming Of places I have known, The grasses of the lonely hills. The meadows and the sown. And all the secrets which appear To men who walk alone.

The comrades of my walking Are calling me to go, And stroll with them across the hills Along a road we know. Past inns where we can drink and talk When storm-winds bring the snow.

I cannot rise and follow The way they're calling me, So I sit dreaming all the day, And all the day I see The open highways of the world Where I would like to be.

, 1913