Oh England, mother England, the blue waves cover me Where rainbow fires are flashing on crests of silver foam, And strange flowers fling their cloying sweets over a tropic sea, And tall palms sway on coral reefs a thousand leagues from home. Oh England, England, England, I set your empire's bound When, my shadowy sails acrowding, Through the star-strewn billows plunging, I sailed the world around. Oh England, mother England, I faced the might of Spain -- In their shrouds of writhing sea-mist the huge black galleons hung; But the God of storms fought for us and we beat them back again And the scepter of the waters from the lordly Phillip wrung. Oh England, England, England, Hold fast the gift I won, When, the wild gray waters ploughing, To an unknown splendor hasting, I outstripped the setting sun. Oh England, mother England, the foe is at your door, And I cannot lie asleeping in this sun-drenched foreign grave. I hear your navies thunder and the North Sea billows roar, Shattering the twilight silence where the deep-sea grasses wave. Oh England, England, England, I see your white cliffs stand With the grey fogs round them wreathing, Though three hundred years I'm sleeping In this painted sunset land. Oh England, mother England, I rise to meet your foe, And my Devon lads come thronging from a thousand English graves. As we launch our ghostly galleon in the stormy sunset glow, Clear we send our challenge ringing o'er the wild exultant waves. Oh England, England, England, We break death's leaden thrall; From flower-sweet turf awakening, Or from ocean caverns rising, We are answering your call; For the scales of fate are wavering as the cannon thunders roar, And the lightnings flash and quiver where the battle billows swell, While the waves of living valor break on death's eternal shore And men's souls, undaunted, grapple with the unchained powers of hell; So England, England, England, As of old my place must be With the sons of Britain, battling Through the jaws of hell and crashing Down to death and victory. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NURSE'S SONG, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE ONE POET VISITS ANOTHER by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE ROCK OF CASHEL by AUBREY DE VERE FIVE SOULS by WILLIAM NORMAN EWER THE COMET AT YELL'HAM by THOMAS HARDY THE VICTOR AT ANTIETAM [SEPTEMBER 17, 1862] by HERMAN MELVILLE I AM THE PEOPLE, THE MOB by CARL SANDBURG |