Behold The Hour, The Boat, Arrive


Behold the hour, the boat, arrive! My dearest Nancy, O fareweel! Severed frae thee, can I survive, Frae thee whom I hae lov'd sae weel ? Endless and deep shall be my grief; Nae ray of comfort shall I see, But this most precious, dear belief, That thou wilt still remember me! Alang the solitary shore Where flitting sea-fowl round me cry, Across the rolling, dashing roar, I'll westward turn my wishful eye. "Happy thou Indian grove," I'll say, "Where now my Nancy's path shall be! While thro' your sweets she holds her way, O tell me, does she muse on me?"

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David Rintoul

About this work

This is a song by Robert Burns. It was written in 1791 and is read here by David Rintoul.

More about this song

Burns sent the first version of this song to Clarinda (Agnes McLehose) on 27 December 1791, at which time she was about to depart for the West Indies with her husband.

It was one of several pieces that Burns had been composing for The Scots Musical Museum, although it is a revision of a song which had been published before in the Edinburgh Magazine of 1774, entitled, ‘Behold the fatal hour arrive’.

The tune is set to Oran gaoil, which Burns heard in the company of ‘a large party of Highland gentlemen’. In this version, Burns has ‘Scotticized’ parts of the text.

Ralph McLean

Themes for this song

loveregret

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