Translation:Un Canadien errant

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For other English-language translations of this work, see Un Canadien errant.
Un Canadien errant (1842)
by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, translated from French by Wikisource
Antoine Gérin-Lajoie2291237Un Canadien errant1842Wikisource

Original French lyrics:

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 languissant
Vers toi se portera . . ."

English Translation:

An errant ‘Canadien’
Banished from his homeland
Weeping, he travels on
Wandering through foreign lands
One sad and pensive day
Seated on the river’s bank
To the evasive current,
Did he address these words:
“If you should see my home
My sad unhappy land
Go, say to all my friends
That I remember them
"O days once so full of charm
You are all gone away
And my homeland, alas!
I'll not see her again
"No, but with my last breath
O my dear Canada!
My languid glance toward home
Shall carry me to you"