The fleet was a floating forest spread before me on the Thames And Greenwich bells saluted all her proud departing sons I stood upon the hillside with my spyglass misted o'er And I turned to make my way to home once more
Chorus O to cross the line and defy the time forever To take the paths of happiness and walk away the pain If for one last time you could hold these hands together Content to scale the heights of home again
Its hard to lose your loved one to a nation's grateful heart For now you are her sweetheart and you're never more to part Your virtue she may trade on and your likeness she may buy But she'll not hold you any more than I
Last night I dreamed you lay with me Your head upon my breast You had no thought of trading me for glory in the west The park was then our Eden and the stars our guileless game We charted them until the comet came
This land may want you for a hero she can call her very own To glory you in ballads and to honour you in stone But I have no need of gratitude and praise and nothing more I want my love beside me as before
The chorus is sung after each verse
It is the death of General James Wolfe seen through the eyes of Kathleen Lowther, the lady he left behind when in 1759 he went to Canada.