On, haste and leave this sacred isle (Michael William Balfe)
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- Editor: David Anderson (submitted 2024-01-05). Score information: Letter, 8 pages, 478 kB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes:
General Information
Title: Oh, haste and leave this sacred isle
Composer: Anonymous (Traditional)
Arranger: Michael William Balfe
Lyricist: Thomas Moore
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Secular, Partsong, Folksong
Language: English
Instruments: Piano
First published: 1859 J. Alfred Novello
Description: AIR: THE BROWN THORN
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
St. Senanus and the Lady
St. Senanus
“Oh! haste, and leave this sacred isle,
Unholy bark, ere morning smile;
For on thy deck, though dark it be,
A female form I see;
And I have sworn this sainted sod
Shall ne’er by woman’s feet be trod!”
The Lady
“Oh! Father, send not hence my bark
Through wintry winds and billows dark,
I come, with humble heart, to share
Thy morn and evening prayer;
Nor mine the feet, oh! holy Saint,
The brightness of thy sod to taint.”
The lady’s prayer Senanus spurn’d;
The winds blew fresh, the bark return’d.
But legends hint, that had the maid
Till morning’s light delay’d,
And given the saint one rosy smile,
She ne’er had left his lonely isle.