“radiant maiden from st. jacques“©

Posted by: alexhickey | September 12, 2013

“radiant maiden from st. jacques“©

I Love You More Than God

Stealing Genius CD, Ron Hynes

Singer, song-writer Ron Hynes has never set foot in St. Jacques yet on his latest album Stealing Genius he includes a love song that applauds a girl whose “home bears a good French name”. He sings of a “radiant maiden from St. Jacques” who he does not name. When Ron sings this song his voice rises and falls with adoration, with notes ascending then gently fluttering to the level of a heart beating with love. As you listen to Ron singing I Love You More Than God pay attention to the last verse which begins with, “I love you more than Christ on high” to hear what I mean.

Stealing Genius is a masterful effort in interpretation of existing literary works, mostly written by Hynes during a writing retreat in the Gros Morne region of Newfoundland. There is no theft here but tribute to such established writers as A

Des Walsh, The Singers Broken Throat

ll Pittman, Randall Maggs and Des Walsh. The beauty of this collection of original songs lies in the originality and genius which Ron Hynes draws out of those works which inspired him. Read a review of the CD on No Depression: The Roots Music Authority.

The song I Love You More Than God is based upon a poem by renowned Newfoundland poet Des Walsh from his book of poetry, The Singer’s Broken Throat published in 2003. In much the same way that W. B. Yeats wrote A Poem to his Beloved in 1899, Walsh has penned passion in verse that stands ones ears at attention. Hynes read the poem and with a few modifications brought it to life as a song on this CD. Listen to the song as performed by Ron on Live performance on “East Coast Countdown Live”, ECMA 2011.

I Love You More Than God

Ron Hynes and Des Walsh, 2010

I Love you more than God my dear

Your beauty dims the brightest star

I love to watch you as you pass

Adoration first and last

The way your hair falls ‘cross your eyes

Your breast as warm as summer night

I love you more than God above

With all the simple purity of love

I know your history and your fame

Your home bears a good French name

The foreigners watch you when you walk

Radiant maiden from St. Jacques

The Walshes and the Hynes boys tell

How they’ve loved you long and well

The one renowned in history

All the way from Ferryland to Fleur de Lys

I love you more than Christ on high

Forever will until I die

If there be an afterlife

There will yet my love survive

So in closing let me say

This true heart will never stray

I love you more than God above

With all the simple purity of love

With all the simple poetry of love

Here in its entirety is Walsh’s poem to the ‘radiant maiden from St. Jacques.

I love you more than any God, not falsely

Des Walsh, 2003

I love you more than any God, not falsely,

for reasons that would dim the brightest star

Your family knows this, they see it when

I genuflect when you pass. It isn’t simply

how your hair falls across your eyes

or how your laughter subdues

the most anxious of moments

or even how your breasts lay beneath me,

it’s the simple purity of love.

I know St. Jacques and the history

Of where you’re from, it’s a French name.

Perhaps that’s why foreigners circle you

like half-starved crows, thinking their

accents are enough to impress

the most wandering flower.

My family has a history as well,

we watch you everywhere.

Did you know there are Walshes in Fleur de Lys?

Although there has not been a French presence in St. Jacques for centuries the town owes the heritage of its name to the French people who lived and fished along the south coast, particularly on St. Pierre and Miquelon. Like many communities and landmarks along the coast the French influence is present in the names we still use. This song sends a salute to that heritage while laying bare a pledge of love to one whose birthright is this treasured little town.

Two Interesting Articles

Two Newfoundland Poets by Stuart Pierson

The Music of Poetry

Des Walsh Books of Poetry

1974 Milk of Unicorns

1972 Voices Underground: Poems by Des Walsh, Michael Wade, Drew, Eric Hoyles

1980 Seasonal Bravery (Canada’s Atlantic poets) by Des Walsh

1989 Love and Savagery, 1989

1992 Who would kiss the mottled birch: poems, Des Walsh; Gerald Squires

2003 The Singer’s Broken Throat

Ron Hynes Recordings

1972 Discovery