Snowy-Breasted Pearl
("Pearla an bhrollaig bhain")
English by George Petrie †1866
There's a colleen fair as May
For a year and for a day
I have sought by ev'ry way
Her heart to gain.
There's no art of tongue or eye
Fond youths with maidens try,
But I've tried with ceaseless sigh,
Yet tried in vain.
If to far-off France or Spain
She crossed the raging main,
Her face to see again
The seas I'd brave.
But if 'tis Heaven's decree
That mine she may not be,
May the Son of Mary me
In mercy save.