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Shy one, shy one, Shy one of my heart, She moves in the firelight Pensively apart. She carries in the dishes, And lays them in a row. To an isle in the water With her would I go. She carries in the candles, And lights the curtained room, Shy in the doorway And shy in the gloom; And shy as a rabbit, Helpful and shy. To an isle in the water, With her [would I]1 fly.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Yeats, William Butler. The Wanderings of Oisin: Dramatic Sketches, Ballads & Lyrics, T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1892, page 135.
1 Clarke: "I would"
Authorship:
- by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "To an isle in the water", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Allan Blank (b. 1925), "To an Isle in the Water" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (William) Havergal Brian (1876 - 1972), "To an Isle in the Water", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979), "Shy one", 1912, published 1920 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Steven Ebel , "My shy one", 2010 [ chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Eidson , "To an isle in the water", 2013 [ soprano (or tenor) and piano ], from Amhráin as an Linn Dubh. Songs From the Black Pool , no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Lee Hoiby (1926 - 2011), "To an Isle in the Water", 1950 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Phoebe Wynn Johnson , "To an Isle in the Water", published 1921 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christopher Kaye Le Fleming (b. 1908), "To an Isle in the Water", published 1931 [ mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (James) Albert Mallinson (1870 - 1946), "To an Isle in the Water", published 1907 [ soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ellen Mandel , "To an Isle in the Water" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "To An Isle In The Water", op. 623 (1962) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugene John Weigel (1910 - 1998), "To an Isle in the Water", published 1950 [ SSA chorus a cappella ], from Four songs for women's voices [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emerson Whithorne (1884 - 1958), "Shy one", published <<1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (James) Healey Willan (1880 - 1968), "To an Isle in the Water", published 1926 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Vers une île au milieu de l'eau", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 76
Cúthail, cúthail
Cúthail í mo stór
I solas na tine
Lei féin go deo.
Iompraíonn sí isteach na gréithe
Go néata á leagan síos
Chuig oileáinín san uisce
A raghainnse lem’ ghéis.
Iompraíonn sí isteach na coinnle
Is tá mar bheadh ‘na lá,
Cúthail sa doras
Is cúthail sa scáil;
Is cúthail mar choinín
Cúthail is lách.
Ar oileán léi san uisce
A d’fhanfainn go brách.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- Singable translation from English to Irish (Gaelic) copyright © 2016 by Gabriel Rosenstock.
This author's work falls under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons license.
Gabriel Rosenstock. Contact: grosenstock04 (AT) gmail (DOT) com
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
Based on:
- a text in English by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "To an isle in the water", appears in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, first published 1889
This text was added to the website: 2016-12-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 66