Sphinx of the Black Watch

[Verse 1:] Through the sandstorm’s breath, where the pyramids sigh, Forty-Second marched with Death ‘neath the sun’s golden eye. French eagles dared the desert’s wrath, met Highland steel in reply— The Watch roared like kilted lions, “This land we’ll sanctify!” [Chorus:] Raise the colours high! Let the Sphinx bear witness now! By the Nile’s coiled tongue, we swore our triumph’s vow! From Cairo’s gates to Alexandria’s shroud— The Black Watch breaks the Corsican’s cloud! [Verse 2:] Blood dried on the khanda’s edge, in the shadow of the dunes, They fought where Pharaohs slept, to the tune of war-pipe tunes. Napoleon’s legions faltered, drowned in the kilted tide, As the Sphinx carved her silhouette on the tartan they wore with pride. [Chorus:] Raise the colours high! Let the Sphinx bear witness now! By the Nile’s coiled tongue, we swore our triumph’s vow! From Cairo’s gates to Alexandria’s shroud— The Black Watch breaks the Corsican’s cloud! [Bridge:] Now the sands whisper secrets of the crescent moon’s disgrace— How the Watch claimed the desert’s heart, and the Sphinx joined their embrace. Her stone gaze sewn on banners, a crest no foe could smother: “Who dares tread on Scotland’s pride? We are Egypt’s conqueror-kin, brother!” [Outro:] When the kilt returns to heather hills, the Nile’s hymn in its seams, The Sphinx guards Regimental tales, alive in veterans’ dreams. And should France rise again in wrath, the Watchmen’s ghosts will say: “Beware the thistle’s sting—we made the desert obey.”