This poem was witten by my godfather Hilair Beloc 1870-1953
When I am living in the midlands That are sodden and unkind I light my lamp in the evening My work is left behind And the great hills of the South Country Come back into my mind
The great hills of the South Country They stand along the sea And its there walking in the high woods That I could wish to be And the men that were boys when I was a boy Walking along with me
The men that live in North England I saw them for a day Their hearts are set upon the waste fells Their skies are fast and grey From their castle walls a man may see The mountains far away
The men that live in West England They see the Severn strong A rolling on rough water brown Light aspen leaves along The have the secret of the rocks And the oldest kind of song
But the men that live in the South Country Are the kindest and most wise They get their laughter from the loud surf And the faith in their happy eyes Comes surely from our sister the spring When over the sea she flies The violets suddenly bloom at her feet She blesses us with surprise
I never get between the pines But I smell the Sussex air Nor I never come on a belt of sand But my home is there And along the skyline of the Downs So noble and so bare
A lost thing I could never find Nor a broken thing mend And I fear I shall be all alone When I get towards the end Who will be there to comfort me Or who will be my friend
I will gather and carefully make my friends Of the men of the Sussex Weald They watch the stars from the silent folds They stiffly plough the fields By them and the God of the South Country My poor soul shall be healed
If ever I become a rich man Or if ever I grow to be old I will build a house with a deep thatch To shelter me from the cold And there shall the Sussex songsΒ Β be sung And the story of Sussex told
I will hold my house in the high woods Within a walk of the sea And the men that were boys when I was a boy Shall sit and drink with me