"The Bonnie Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond"

I recently came across this song/poem in the November/December 1999 issue of The Highlander, an American magazine about Scottish heritage. According to the article, written by Gilly Pickup,

The tune is a traditional one; it is said that it was first sung in the back streets of Edinburgh by street urchins. There is no denying it is a lament - a particularly sad song - but there is a note of defiance in it too, which surely turns this poor soldier's death into a kind of victory.

This was written by a prisoner in the 1700s. The prisoner was a Jacobite soldier who had been captured. There were so many of these captives that they were divided into groups, and only one out of each group would be tried while the rest were sent to the New World. After the selection, only 127 remained.

Here's the verses:

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever want to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Oh ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

'Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side o' Ben Lomond;
Where in deep purple hue, the heilan' hills we view,
And the moon coming out in the gloamin'

Oh ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping;
But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again,
Tho' the waeful may cease from their greeting.

Oh ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.