Rivers

Our history runs down our rivers
 Down our rivers to the sea
 Reminds us of the things that matter
 Home and heart 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 traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
 To remind me of what I already know
 I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
 To remind me an island is my home
 An island is my home
 I traveled far across this country
 Northumberland to Southern Downs
 I wandered up the rolling Humber
 And down the Thames to London town
 Countless lives were lived and lingered
 In the cuts, swerves, and the fells
 I left a tapestry called England
 And life and those who lived it well
 I traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
 To remind me of what I already know
 I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
 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 traced these rivers from the cities to the seas
 To remind me of what I already know
 I traced the shorelines through a thousand histories
 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, come
 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