Poems and Songs Part 10

"Oh, let me look once again and see Starlight the heavens o'ersweeping!"

Begged young Magnus on bended knee, It was sore to see.

All the women afar were weeping.

"Oh, till to-morrow! The mountains to see And ocean its blue displaying, Only once, and then let it be!"

Thus he bent the knee, While his friends for mercy were praying.

"Oh, in the church let G.o.d's blood so bright Be the last blessing that greets me!

It shall bathe with a flood of light Through eternal night My eyes, when the darkness meets me!"

Deep sank the steel, and each seeing eye Lightning-like night had swallowed.

"Magnus, King Magnus, good-by, good-by!"

--"Oh, good-by, good-by,-- You who eighteen summers me followed!"

SIN, DEATH (FROM SIGURD SLEMBE) (See Note 17)

Sin and Death, those sisters two, Two, two, Sat together while dawned the morning.

Sister, marry! Your house will do, Do, do, For me, too, was Death's warning.

Sin was wedded, and Death was pleased, Pleased, pleased, Danced about them the day they married; Night came on, she the bridegroom seized, Seized, seized, And away with her carried.

Sin soon wakened alone to weep, Weep, weep.

Death sat near in the dawn of morning: Him you love, I love too and keep, Keep, keep.

He is here, was Death's warning.

FRIDA (See Note 18)

Frida, I knew that thy life-years were counted.

If but before thee a lifting thought mounted, Upward thy gaze turned all wistful to view it, As wouldst thou pursue it.

Eyes that so clear saw the wonderful vision Looked far away beyond earth's indecision.

Snow-white unfolded the pinions that later Bore thee to the greater.

Speaking or asking thou broughtest me sorrow; Eyes thine and words thine seemed wanting to borrow Clearness more pure and thoughts, victory gaining Beyond my attaining.

When thou wert dancing in all a child's lightness, Shaking thy locks like a fountain in brightness, Laughing till heaven was opened in gladness Over thy gladness,--

Or when affliction in sternness had spoken, So that thy heart in that moment seemed broken, Far from thy thoughts in thy suffering riven Were both earth and heaven,--

Then, oh, I saw then: thy joy and thy grieving Ever the bounds of the mortal were cleaving.

All seems so little where silent we ponder,-- But room they have yonder.

BERGEN (See Note 19)

As thou sittest there Skerry-bound and fair, Mountains high around and ocean's deep before thee, On thee casts her spell _Saga_, that shall tell Once again the wonders of our land.

Honor is thy due, "Bergen never new,"

Ancient and unaging as thy Holberg's humor; Once kings sought thine aid,-- Mighty now in trade,-- First to fly the flag of liberty.

Oft in proud array, As a sunshine-day Breaks forth from thy rain and fog wind-driven, Thou didst come with men Or great deeds again, When the clouds were darkest o'er our land.

Thy soul was the ground, Wit-enriched and sound, Whence there sprang stout thoughts to make our country's harvest, Whence our arts exist, In their birth-hour kissed By thy nature, somber, large, and strong.

In thy mountain-hall Learned our painter, _Dahl_; Wand'ring on thy strands our poet dreamed, _Welhaven_; All thy morning's gold _Ole Bull_ ensouled, Greeted on thy bay by all the world.

With thy sea-wide sway Thou hast might for aye, Fjords of blue convey thy life-blood through our country.

Norway's spirit thou Dost with joy endow,-- Great thy past, no less thy future great.

P. A. MUNCH (1863) (See Note 20)

Many forms belong to greatness.

He who now has left us bore it As a doubt that made him sleepless, But at last gave revelation,-- As a sight-enhancing power, That gave visions joined with anguish Over all beyond our seeing,-- As a flight on labor's pinions From the thought unto the certain, Thence aloft to intuition,-- Restless haste and changeful ardor, G.o.d-inspired and unceasing, Through the wide world ever storming, Took its load of thoughts and doubtings, Bore them, threw them off,--and took them, Never tired, never listless.

Still! for he had one haven of rest: Family-life peace-bestowing!

Powers of light gave repose to his breast, Calm 'mid the strife of his knowing.

Softly with music his wife led him in Unto the sweet-smelling birches!

Unto the flowers and still deeper in Under the fir-forest's churches!

Daughters drew near him in love secure Cooling his forehead's hot fever; Gently their message of innocence pure Made him a childlike believer.

Or he joined glad in their light-hearted game, Colors and music surrounding,-- Gone were the clouds, in the heavens came Sparkling of star-light abounding.

But as in an autumn evening Silent, dreamy, dark, sheet-lightning Wakens thought and feeling stormward,-- Or as in a boat a sudden Stroke when gliding as in slumber On between the cliffs that tower In a quiet, balmy spring night,-- But a single stroke and soft, then Echo takes it up and tosses To and fro 'mid walls of mountains, Thrush and grouse send forth their wood-calls Deer rise up and listen keenly, Stones are rolling, all are up now, Dogs are barking, bells are clanging, Ushering in the strife of daytime,-- Thus could oft a recollection Down-light falling in that playtime, Waken all his thought and doubting!

Then it roved the wide world over, Then it hottest burned within him,-- But it lavished light for others!

Rise of races, spread of language, Birth of names, all laws' close kinship, Small and great in equal pa.s.sion, Equal haste and doubting goal-ward!-- There where others stones saw only, He saw precious gems that glistened, Sunk his shaft the mine to deepen.

And where others thought the treasure Sure and safe for years a hundred, Doubt possessed him as he burrowed Day and night -- and saw it vanish!

But the unrest that gave power Made him oft the goal pa.s.s over; While to others he gave clearness, Intuitions new deceived him.

Therefore: where he once had striven, Thither he would turn him never, Changed his ground and shifted labor, From his own thought-conquests fleeing.

But his thoughts pursued, untiring, Followed, growing, as the fire, Kindled in Brazilian forests, Storm-wind makes and storm-wind follows!

Where before no foot had trodden, Ways were burned for many millions!

Northward stretches Scandinavia 'Mid the fog that dims the Ice-sea, Darkness of the months of winter Lays its weight on sea and mountain.

Like our lands are too our peoples.

Their beginnings prehistoric Stretch afar in fog and darkness.

But as through the fog a lighthouse, Or as Northern Lights o'er darkness, Gleamed his thought with light and guidance.

When with filial fond remembrance Tenderly he sought and questioned, Searching for his people's pathways-- Names and graves and rusty weapons, Stones and tools their answer gave him.