Thursday 22 March 2012

My faithful fond one


I thought I'd posted this pretty little song before, but since I haven't, here it is. The words of 'My faithful fond one' are translated from the Gaelic ('Mo Run Geal Dileas') by 'Professor Blackie' (you can read those here); this is how they appear in Songs of the North. Here's the sole performance on youtube, but it looks like Percy Grainger also set it - I must investigate this further...


Chorus:
My fair and rare one, my faithful fond one,
My faithful fair, wilt not come to me,
On bed of pain here who remain here
With weary longing for a sight of thee?

If wings were mine now to skim the brine now,
And like a seagull to float me free,
To Islay's shore now, they'd bear me o'er now,
Where dwells the maiden that is dear to me.

O were I yonder with her to wander
Beneath the green hills, beside the sea,
With birds in chorus that warble o'er us
And ruth of kisses so sweet to me.

For let the sky here be wet or dry here,
With peaceful breeze here or windy war,
In winter glooming or summer blooming,
'Tis all one season, love, when thou art far.

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