The "Ode to Newfoundland" is the official provincial anthem of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The four-verse poem entitled Newfoundland composed by Governor Sir Cavendish Boyle in 1902 was chosen as Newfoundland's official national anthem on May 20, 1904.
This distinction was dropped when Newfoundland joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949. Three decades later, in 1980, the province re-adopted the song as an official provincial anthem, the first province to do so. The "Ode to Newfoundland" is still sung at public events to this day as a tradition.
The lyrics are:
When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills,
And summer spreads her hand,
When silvern voices tune thy rills,
We love thee, smiling land.
We love thee, we love thee,
We love thee, smiling land.
When spreads thy cloak of shimmering white,
At winter's stern command,
Thro' shortened day, and starlit night,
We love thee, frozen land.
We love thee, we love thee
We love thee, frozen land.
When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
And wild waves lash thy strand,
Thro' spindrift swirl, and tempest roar,
We love thee windswept land.
We love thee, we love thee
We love thee windswept land.
As loved our fathers, so we love,
Where once they stood, we stand;
Their prayer we raise to Heaven above,
God guard thee, Newfoundland
God guard thee, God guard thee,
God guard thee, Newfoundland.