Un Canadien errant,
Banni de ses foyers,
Parcourait en pleurant
Des pays étrangers.
Un jour, triste et pensif,
Assis au bord des flots,
Au courant fugitif,
Il adressa ces mots;
"Si tu vois mon pays,
Mon pays malheureux.
"Va, dis à mes amis,
Que je me souviens d'eux.
"O jours si pleins d'appas,
Vous êtes disparus ....
"Et ma patrie, hélas!
Je ne la verrai plus!
"Non, mais en expirant,
O mon cher Canada!
"Mon regard languisant
Vers toi se portera. ..."
Exiled and wandering
From his Canadian home,
It breaks his bleeding heart
In distant lands to roam.
One day in grief he sate
Beside the western wave,
And to its fleeting flood
These solemn words he gave:
"If you see my country,
That dear, unhappy land,
"Tell every loving friend
That I would clasp his hand.
"O past days of delight,
I think of you in vain,
"And my best loved country
I ne'er shall see again!
"But in my dying hour,
Wherever I may be,
"O Canada, my home,
Mine eyes shall turn to thee!"