Felicia Dorothea Hemans

The Cliffs of Dover

ROCKS of my country! let the cloud
  Your crested heights array,
And rise ye like a fortress proud
  Above the surge and spray!

My spirit greets you as ye stand
  Breasting the billow’s foam:
O, thus forever guard the land,
  The severed land of home!

I have left rich blue skies behind,
  Lighting up classic shrines,
And music in the southern wind,
  And sunshine on the vines.

The breathings of the myrtle flowers
  Have floated o’er my way;
The pilgrim’s voice, at vesper hours,
  Hath soothed me with its lay.

The isles of Greece, the hills of Spain,
  The purple heavens of Rome,—
Yes, all are glorious; yet again
  I bless thee, land of home!

For thine the sabbath peace, my land!
  And thine the guarded hearth;
And thine the dead,—the noble band
  That make thee holy earth.

Their voices meet me in thy breeze,
  Their steps are on thy plains;
Their names, by old majestic trees,
  Are whispered round thy fanes.

Their blood hath mingled with the tide
  Of thine exulting sea;
O, be it still a joy, a pride,
  To live and die for thee!