Cousin Jacks and Jills in foreign parts
With memories of this Duchy in their hearts;
In Philadelphia or Wisconsin, USA,
Australia, down Perth or Melbourne way
Living where Pacific rollers thunder
In a place we call “down under”
Whose ancestors left when times were thin
To go abroad to dig lead or tin
“Cos Cornish miners are the best,
“Twas the thing – “Young man go West”,
Do ‘e think ‘o we in that different clime
At Easter or come Christmas time?
Some have gone in recent years
And some of ‘e I knawed my dears
You’ve been missed beyond belief
Who now live in land of Maple Leaf;
Do ‘e think of we and Tresillian Bridge
You who called your home Tintagel Ridge?
You had pluck and you’ve done well
But do ‘e miss the old church bell
And think of you a child in choir
Have memories of a Guy Fawkes fire;
Young men and maidens on the village green
When you an’ she was sweet sixteen?
Cousin Jacks and Jills in Africa -that continent known as “dark”,
Do ‘e miss the gloaming, frosty morns an’ singing of the lark?
Hawthorn blossom, white clay pits, smell of new mown hay,
You who have made your mark so many miles away?
Would ‘e like to dance The Flora? my handsome come along with me
Put your hand where your heart is and clasp mine across the sea.