The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay With Illustrations by John Gilbert |
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| XII. |
ROLLING HOME.
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 | The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay |  |
ROLLING HOME.
On board the Europa, homeward bound, May 26th, 1858.
I
Up aloft amid the rigging sings the fresh exulting gale,Strong as spring-time in the blossoms filling out each blooming sail;
And the wild waves, cleft behind us, seem to murmur as they flow:
“There are kindly hearts that wait you in the land to which ye go.”
Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home, dear land, to thee!
Rolling home to merry England, rolling home across the sea!
343
II
Twice a thousand miles behind us, and a thousand miles before,Ancient Ocean heaves to bear us to the well-remember'd shore;
New-born breezes swell to waft us to our childhood's balmy skies,
To the glow of friendly faces, to the light of loving eyes.
Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home, dear land, to thee!
Rolling home to merry England, rolling home across the sea!
III
Every motion of the vessel, every dip of mast or spar,Is a dance and a rejoicing, and a promise from afar;
And we love the light above us, as it tips the waves around,
All the more because, ere coming, it has beam'd on English ground.
Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home, dear land, to thee!
Rolling home to merry England, rolling home across the sea!
IV
And 'tis nearer, ever nearer, to the rising of the morn,And 'tis eastward, ever eastward, to the land where we were born.
344
We shall see the shores of England at the dawning of the light.
Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home, dear land, to thee!
Rolling home to merry England,—rolling home across the sea!
V
Rolling home to little England—though so little, yet so great—With her face of sunny beauty, and her heart as strong as fate,
With her men of honest nature, with her women good and fair,
With her courage and her virtue that can do as well as bear.
Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home, dear land, to thee!
Rolling home to merry England,—rolling home across the sea!
| The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay | |