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??rnson, Bj??rnstjerne, 1832-1910

"Poems and Songs"



AT HANSTEEN'S BIER
(1873)
(See Note 60)
God, we thank Thee for the dower
Thou gavest Norway in his power,
Whom in the grave we now shall lay!
Starlit paths of thoughts that awe us
His spirit found; his deeds now draw us
To deeds, as mighty magnets play.
He was the first to stand
A light in our free land;
Of our present the first fair crown,
The first renown,
At Norway's feet he laid it down.
We his shining honors sharing,
And humble now his body bearing,
Shall sing with all the world our praise.
God, who ever guides our nation,
Hath called us to a high vocation
And shown where He our goal doth raise.
People of Norway, glad
Go on, as God us bade!
God has roused you; He knows whereto,
Though we are few.
With Him our future we shall view.

RALLYING SONG FOR FREEDOM IN THE NORTH
TO "THE UNITED LEFT"
(Tirol, 1874)
(See Note 61)
Dishonored by the higher, but loved by all the low,--
Say, is it not the pathway that the new has to go?
By those who ought to guard it betrayed, oh yes, betrayed,--
Say, is it not thus truth ever progress has made?
Some summer day beginning, a murmur in the grain,
It grows to be a roaring through the forests amain,
Until the sea shall bear it with thunder-trumpets' tone,
Where nothing, nothing's heard but it alone, it alone.
With Northern allies warring we take the Northern
For God and for our freedom--is the watchword we bring.


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