[2] After being appointed as priest for the Catholic Church of French St-Martin in 1954, Father Gerard Kemps felt compelled to compose lyrics and a melody about the beauty of the land of Saint Martin.

Where over[a] 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 harbours free Where the chains of mountains green Variously[b] in sunlight sheen 𝄆 Oh I love thy Paradise, Nature beauty fairly nice 𝄇[c]

Thy useful birds in white Their morn and evening flight Like aircraft-wings in unity Their coming down for food Then turning back to roost Bring home to me their harmony

Trouvez-moi une perle si chère, comme l'île Saint-Martin en mer, chaîne de mornes et vallées; riche de plages bien dorées qui donne la paix, donne le repos dans ses mornes et toutes ses eaux.

Quand le soleil ici arrive, donnant splendeur, montrant beauté, Quel éclat de tout coté.

Le vol de ses pélicans, gracieux et si élégants quand ils planent haut en l'air, quand ils plongent dans la mer; Dites-moi l'endroit, où on les voit, lorsqu'ils fondent sur leur proie.

Flight of its pelicans, graceful and elegant when they hover high into the air, when they dive into the sea; Tell me the place where we see them, when based on their prey