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
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
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
And tis nearer ever nearer
to the rising of the morn
And tis eastward ever eastward
to the land where we were born
And we ll sing in joyous chorus
through the watches of the night
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
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
Text: Charles Mackay. ROLLING HOME On board the Europa, homeward bound, 26. Mai1858
in: Beiträge zur Völkerkunde aus Wort und Lied, Von August Boltz · 1868, S. 276
