The Dawning of the Day


"The Dawning of the Day" is the name of two old Irish airs.
O'Connellan's "Fáinne Geal an Lae" is often confused with the later pentatonic melody to which the words "The Dawning of the Day" is set. The O'Connellan air is different in a number of respects, although there are melodic resemblances. Words are still sung to variants of it which mostly use only the first half of the air as printed in Bunting and other collections.
The Irish-language lyrics of "Fáinne Geal an Lae" describe an aisling where the poet encounters a mysterious beautiful woman. In this case, she upbraids him as a frivolous rake and points to the approaching dawn.

Lyrics

Notes:
Helen of Troy is used in the translation rather than the literal Venus simply for its rhythm.
The final verse is a poetical rather than literal translation, which would be:

Irish

English

translation by Na Casaidigh