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Poems and Songs

by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

58 of 60 · Contents · Download EPUB

In the Forest

List to the forest-voice murmuring low:
All that it saw when alone with its laughter,
All that it suffered in times that came after,
Mournful it tells, that the wind may know.

WHEN COMES THE MORNING?
(FROM IN GOD’S WAY)
(See Note 77)

When comes the real morning?
When golden, the sun’s rays hover
Over the earth’s snow-cover,
And where the shadows nestle,
Wrestle,
Lifting lightward the root enringèd
Till it shall seem an angel wingèd,
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
      But if the weather is bad
      And my spirit sad,
      Never morning I know.
      No.

Truly, it’s real morning,
When blossom the buds winter-beaten,
The birds having drunk and eaten
Are glad as they sing, divining
Shining
Great new crowns to the tree-tops given,
Cheering the brooks to the broad ocean riven.
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
      But if the weather is bad
      And my spirit sad,
      Never morning I know.
      No.

When comes the real morning?
When power to conquer parries
Sorrow and storm, and carries
Sun to the soul, whose burning
Yearning
Opens in love and calls to others:
Good to be unto all as brothers.
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
      Greatest power you know
      —And most dangerous, lo!—
      Will you this then possess?
      Yes.

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