Voices from the crowd :: :: University of Virginia Library

Farewell, England! blessings on thee,
Stern and niggard as thou art;
Harshly, Mother, thou hast used me,
And my bread thou hast refused me;
But 'tis agony to part.
'Twill pass over; for I would not
Bear again what I could tell—
Half the ills that I have suffer'd—
Though I loved thee twice as well.
So—my blessings on thee, England,
And a long and last farewell!

Other regions will provide me
Independence for my age,
Recompense for hard exertion—
For my children, the reversion
Of a goodly heritage.
England—this thou couldst not give me;
England, pamperer of squires,
Landlord-ridden, pride-encumber'd,
Quencher of the poor man's fires;—
But, farewell! My blessing on thee;
Thou art country of my sires.

Though I love, I'm glad to fly thee;
Who would live in hopeless toil,
Evil-steep'd and ill-exampled,
Press'd and jostled, crush'd and trampled,
Interloper on the soil—

If there were one other country
Where an honest man might go,
Winning corn-fields from the forest—
All his own, too—blow by blow?
Farewell, England—I regret thee,
But my tears refuse to flow.

Haply o'er the Southern ocean
I shall do my part, to rear
A new nation, Saxon-blooded,
Which, with plenty crown'd and studded,
To its happy children dear,
Shall eclipse thy fame, O England;
Taught and warn'd alike by thee;—
Mightier with unshackled commerce,
Mightier in her men more free,
Mightier in her virgin vigour,
And her just equality.

But farewell. My blessing on thee!
Never, till my latest day,
Shall my memory cease to ponder
On thy fate, where'er I wander;—
Never shall I cease to pray
That the many may be happy;
That the few their pride may quell;
That thou mayst in peaceful progress
All thy misery dispel;—
Queen of nations: once their model—
God be with thee! Fare-thee-well!