O Sweet Saint Martin's Land is the bi-national song of Saint Martin/Sint-Maarten island

Saint Martin

Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...

, in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, this island being divided between France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Kingdom of the Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...

.

This full original version was written by the French side

Saint Martin (France)

Saint Martin , officially the Collectivity of Saint Martin is an overseas collectivity of France located in the Caribbean. It came into being on 15 July 2007, encompassing the northern parts of Saint Martin island and neighbouring islets, the largest of which is Île Tintamarre...

  Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

Father Gerard Kemps in 1958.



Where over the world, say where,

You find an island there,

So lovely small with nations free

With people French and Dutch

Though talking English much,

As thee Saint Martin in the sea ?



Chorus :

O sweet Saint Martin's Land

So bright by beach and strand

With sailors on the sea and harbors free

Where the chains of mountains green

Variously in sunlight sheen



O I love thy Paradise,

Nature-beauty fairly nice (twice)



How pretty between all green

Flamboyants beaming gleam

Of flowers red by sunlight set

Thy cows and sheep and goats

In meadows or on roads

Thy donkeys keen can't I forget



Thy useful birds in white

Their morn and evening flight

Like aircrafts-wings in unity

Their coming down for food

Then turning back to roost

Bring home to me their harmony



Saint Martin I love thy name

In which Columbus fame

And memories of old are those

For me a great delight

Thy Southern Cross the night

May God the Lord protect thy coast !

French version (Original)

Trouvez-moi une perle si chère,

comme l'île Saint-Martin en mer,

chaîne de mornes et vallées;

riche de plages bien dorées

qui donnent la paix, donnent le repos

dans ses mornes et toutes ses eaux.



Choeur (refrain):

Saint-Martin, Saint-Martin,

Si jolie en tous ses coins. (bis)



Quel charme ses flamboyants,

leur fleurs un enchantement,

tout un bouquet de flammes vives.

Quand le soleil ici arrive,

donnant splendeur, montrant beauté,

Quel éclat de tous cotés.



Sa cime "le Pic Paradis",

ravit les touristes ici,

d'où sa verdure fait merveille;

un panorama sans pareil,

voyant les plaines, voyant la mer,

colorées en bleu et vert.



Le vol de ses pélicans,

gracieux et si élégants

quand ils plannent haut en l'air,

quand ils plongent dans la mer;

Dites-moi l'endroit, où on les voit,

lorsqu'ils fondent sur leur proies



Son nom toujours Saint-Martin

rest'ra dans l'histoire sans fin,

Christophe Colomb l'a découverte,

lui a donné son nom si cher,

Dieu protecteur, Dieu de bonté,

garde-la bien en prospérité !

Dutch Translation

Waar over de hele wereld, zeggen waar,

U vindt een eiland,

Zo mooi klein met landen gratis

Met mensen het Frans en het Nederlands

Hoewel praten Engels veel,

Als u Sint Maarten in de zee?



Chorus:

O lieve Land van Sint Maarten

Zo helder door strand en streng

Met de schippers op de zee en de havens gratis

Waar de ketenen van de bergen groen

Afwisselend in het zonlicht glans



O Ik hou van uw Paradijs,

Natuur-schoonheid heel aardig (twee keer)



Hoe mooi tussen alle groene

Kleurrijken stralende glans

Van de bloemen rood door zonlicht stellen

Uw koeien en schapen en geiten

In weilanden of op wegen

Uw ezels willen kan ik niet vergeten



Uw nuttige vogels in wit

Hun morgen en 's avonds de vlucht

Net als vliegtuig-vleugels in eenheid

Hun komst naar beneden voor voedsel

Vervolgens terug te keren naar
stok
Mee naar huis om me de harmonie



Sint Maarten Ik hou van uw naam

In welke Columbus roem

En herinneringen van de oude zijn die

Voor mij een grote vreugde

Uw nachts van der Zuiderkruis

Moge God de Heer te beschermen, uw kust!

Father Kemp's Legacy

In 1958, Father Gerard Kemps created "O Sweet Saint Martin's Land". Because of the message the lyrics conveyed and the melody that carried the tune, it served the purpose of a national song.

In 1984, on the occasion of the Queen's Birthday, Father Kemps was knighted "Ridder in de Orde van Oranje van Nassau".

Although there are some now on St. Martin who are unaware of Father Kemps, his legacy lives on in the St. Martin's song.