Sweet England

As I was a walking one morning in spring
To hear the larks whistle, the calling birds sing
I heard a fair maiden a-making her moan
Oh alas I'm a stranger away from my home

Oh where is your country I gladly would know
And what mean these tears that so freely do flow
What makes you to wander so far from your home
And causes lament in a strange land alone?

Oh I came from sweet England with mother and dad
They thought in America all might be had
Of gold and of silver and riches galore
And we'd never need hunger in poverty more

But alas for sweet England my father is dead
My mother could earn but a dollar for bread
And alack the white wings of the ships as they fly
Out across the blue sea and leave me here to die

Now mother is dead, I am left all alone
If I were in England no more would I roam
I've an aunt who is grey and she loves me amain
So will not some ship take me homeward again?

She lives in a cottage, a rose by her door
Oh her pans or her dishes I'd scrub, or the floor
And I would kiss her white cheeks and I'd nurse her in pain
And thank God I was back in sweet England again
And thank God I was back in sweet England again