In 1649, to St George's Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will,
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws,
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.

We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow,
We come to work the land in common and to make the waste ground grow.
This earth divided, we will make whole,
So it can be a common treasury for all.

The sin of property we do disdain,
No one has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain.
By theft and murder, they took the land,
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command.

They make the laws to chain us well,
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell.
We will not worship the God they serve,
The God of greed who feeds the rich while people starve.

We work, we eat together, we need no swords,
We will not bow to masters or pay rent to the lords.
We are free men, though we are poor,
You Diggers all stand up for glory, stand up now.