This is an Anglish version of Reverend Rylance's 1809 version of the song Hearts of Oak.

Songwords[edit]

(Verse 1)
When Alfred our king drove the Dane from this land
He seeded an oak with his own kingly hand
And he bade up to heaven to hallow the tree
As a kineyard for England the queen of the sea

(Chorus)
Hearts of oak are our ships
Merry tars are our men
We always are ready, steady men, steady
We fight and we o'erwin again and again

(Verse 2)
The sapling shot up and stuck fast to the ground
Withstood all unweather that bellowed and wound
And still was it seen then with fresh starkness to shoot
When the blood of our throers had wettened its root

(Chorus)

(Verse 3)
But the worms of sullying had eaten their way
Through bark till a wardle had swept them away
He has sworn no such wormkin our tree shall give rest
And our kinfolk soon shall have uprooted the nest

(Chorus)

(Verse 4)
Leedhater whose lowly wield Europe bemoans
Yon brood of wield stealers who sit on her thrones
Shall look on our homeland and shall shiver with awe
Where a son of the theeden has bowed to the law

(Chorus)

(Verse 5)
Now long live the Engle, who neethed to make thrive
The heartmood which Engles seld felt was alive
And his name shall be carved while of freedom we sing
On the oak that was seeded by Alfred our king