Mo Shùil Ad Dhèidh ("My Eye is After You"), also known as Och Òin, Mo Chailinn ("Alas, My Maiden"), is a traditional Scottish song of lost love, originally written as a poem by the Reverend Donald MacNicol (1735-1802).

The thirty-five-year-old Rev. MacNicol wrote the poem in lament of being snubbed by Lillias Campbell, a local laird's daughter. He had requested the seventeen-year-old girl's hand in marriage, but Lillias had already accepted the hand of her cousin, Captain Alexander Campbell. However, Sir Alexander made an ungallant bet with a servant which left the angered Lillias no choice but to accept the alternate proposal of the Rev. MacNicol. They married just after her eighteenth birthday, and would go on to have sixteen children. The poem was later set to music and remains a popular Highland folk song.

Lyrics

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References

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  • Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Macnicol, Donald" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  • "Och Òin Mo Chailinn".