Rivers - Frank Turner

Our history runs down our rivers

Down our rivers to the sea

Reminds us of the things that matter

Home and hearth and history

And all our sins will be forgiven

Washed away to set us free

By the rivers that run through our homesteads

By myth and modal melody

I trace these rivers from the cities to the seas

To remind me of what I already know

I traced the shorelines through a thousand estuaries

To remind me: an island is my home

An island is my home

I traveled far across this country

Northumberland to the Southern Downs

I wandered up the rolling Humber

And down the Thames to London Town

And countless lives were lived and lingered

In the Cotswolds and the Fells

And left a tapestry called «England»

Of life and those who lived it well

I trace these rivers from the cities to the seas

To remind me of what I already know

I traced the shorelines through a thousand estuaries

To remind me: an island is my home

An island is my home

Round here the sky is a little closer

A little closer to the ground

It’s hard for someone to get lost here

Harder still to get found

Though I’ve seen a thousand rivers

From the Mississippi to the Rhine

The only place that I’ll lay my hat down

Is by an English riverside

I trace these rivers from the cities to the seas

To remind me of what I already know

I traced the shorelines through a thousand estuaries

To remind me: an island is my home

An island is my home

So place your trust into the sea

It’s kept us safe for centuries

It shaped our shores and steadily

Its care has brought us calm

When I die, I hope to be

Buried out in English seas

So all that then remains of me

Will lap against these shores

Until England is no more