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"