Sweden's Laureate: Selected Poems of Verner von Heidenstam/Norway's Father
NORWAY'S FATHER.
On the Death of Björnstjerne Björnson.
The late light falls on the mountain crest,
The sun goes royally down to the deep.
Weep, Synnöve,[1] weep!
For great was the sun that sank to rest.
Poet, warrior, to strive is well.
Thou, sleeping chief, turnest home once more,
While round thy ship rolls the ocean swell
Toward Norway's crags and Sweden's shore.
It was brother-land; it is stranger-land.
We were hand in hand; but broken the band.
Yet the soul of the people deep within
Still breathes the eternal brother-song.
We stand and gaze at the sunset long,
And grieve for thee as one of our kin.
The late light falls on the mountain crest,
The sun goes royally down to the deep.
Weep, Synnöve,[1] weep!
For great was the sun that sank to rest.
Poet, warrior, to strive is well.
Thou, sleeping chief, turnest home once more,
While round thy ship rolls the ocean swell
Toward Norway's crags and Sweden's shore.
It was brother-land; it is stranger-land.
We were hand in hand; but broken the band.
Yet the soul of the people deep within
Still breathes the eternal brother-song.
We stand and gaze at the sunset long,
And grieve for thee as one of our kin.
- ↑ Synnöve is the heroine of one of Björnson's early stories.