“Haste to the Wedding”
Then turning to Laura, [Almanzo] said, ‘I’ll be over in the morning at ten o’clock.’ – ‘I’ll be ready,’ Laura promised… — These Happy Golden Years, Chapter 32, “Haste to the Wedding”
One of the few songs Laura Ingalls Wilder merely alludes to, “Haste to the Wedding” is used to title the chapter describing the busy last-minute preparations for Laura and Almanzo’s wedding. “Haste to the Wedding” is a traditional Irish fiddle tune to which lyrics have become associated through the generations. In traditional Irish weddings, it was common for the bride to enter while a fiddle or fife player played “Haste to the Wedding.”
Come haste to the wedding ye friends and ye neighbors,
The lovers their bliss can no longer delay.
Forget all your sorrows your cares and your labors,
And let every heart beat with rapture today.
Come, come one and all, attend to my call,
And revel in pleasure that never can cloy.
Come see rural felicity,
Which love and innocence ever enjoy.
Let envy, let pride, let hate and ambition,
Still crowd to, and beat at the breast of the great,
To such wretched passions we give no admission,
But leave them alone to the wise ones of state.
We boast of no wealth , but contentment and health,
In mirth and in friendship, our monents employ
Come see rural felicity,
Which love and innocence ever enjoy.
With reason we taste of each heart stirring pleasure,
With reason we drink of the full flowing bowl,
Are jocund and gay, but ’tis all within measure,
For fatal excess will enslave the free soul.
Then come at our bidding to this happy wedding,
No care shall obtrude here, our bliss to annoy,
Come see rural felicity,
Which love and innocence ever enjoy.
CLICK HERE to listen.
Click on the above image to view a copy of sheet music of “Come Haste to the Wedding.”
“Haste to the Wedding” (THGY 32)