O my country, my country! how long I for thee,
Far over the mountain, far over the sea.
Where the sweet Joliba kisses the shore,
Say, shall I wander by thee never more?
Where the sweet Joliba kisses the shore,
Say, shall I wander by thee never more?
O my country, my country! how long I for thee,
Far over the mountain, far over the sea.
Say, O fond Zurima,
Where dost thou stay?
Say, doth another
List to thy sweet lay?
Say, doth the orange still
Bloom near our cot?
Zurima, Zurima,
Am I forgot?
O, my country, my country! how long I for thee,
Far over the mountain, far over the sea.
Under the baobab
Oft have I slept,
Fanned by sweet breezes
That over me swept.
Often in dreams
Do my weary limbs lay
'Neath the same baobab,
Far, far away,
O my country, my country, how long I for thee,
Far over the mountain, far over the sea.
O for the breath
Of our own waving palm,
Here, as I languish,
My spirit to calm—
O for a draught
From our own cooling lake,
Brought by sweet mother,
My spirit to wake.
O my country, my country, how long I for thee,
Far over the mountain, far over the sea.