Decorah-posten., 1888-05-23

- 1870 - - t'S
Strange lands rise smiling from the sea,
So Iceland. Greenland, "Vinland" brings
Their ships ashore. columbia,
Sees in this last, America,
| And rears to him, for honors won,
A statue of Left Erikson.)
And now IA strange-toned trumpet calls
Among thy crags and mountain peaks;
Disnay IL fek in Odin's halls;
Saint Olaf's sacred banner speaks
I last of truth and Christ, and seeks,
And gains, Il following 'mong men
Who never sh all turn back again.
No foreign foe ever spoiled the home
Thou CAV st thy sons. You'd Eyder's stream
The agles of Imperial Rome
Ne'er spread their wings; The frosty CLEAN
OF northern steel chilled Caesars dream
OF conquest, turned it south ag in
| And checke the mighty Chariemagne.
Yet hast thou from tn rugged coasts
Dictated to the nations! Now,
Out-Swceping with thy warlihc hosts
Ger stormy seas, whcrc'cr the PROV
OF thy stout fleets was turned, and now
BY march DER moultain-pass and plain
Thy valiant war;. ors rushed amain-
Till Canute safe on Britain's throne
| And Rurik ruled in M~uscOvy,
Finland and Poland were thy own,
And TO the south lay Normandy,
Child of thy blood; so It's to thee,
And thine, that widespread millions trace
Today their lineage and race.
To make thy crowns one triple zone
The matchles- NJ rgaret put forth
Her skilltul hand, and forged alone
. "Semiramis of the North
Till Calmar' Union came, whose worth,
Availed by those who followed her.
Had wrought for thee what Haarfager
I ad done for Norway ages gone
Welded together sdndcred forces,
Made scattered hostile factions one,
Turned to one stream the various scources
OF power, directing al its courses
To serve the common good, Away;
Then had we said OF thee to-day
Three States, one heritage, one crown,
One race, n people, and one fame,
One great ambition; the renOwn,
Past, present, future. of one name
One made of thee combined, the same
In story, worship, blood, and law,
United Scandinavia.
But Justice trimpled aud derided
Hath dealt with Kings as other men,
United but to be divided
Was the decree pronounced again
As with his sword, great Nasa, then
Severed the bon0s which r. ndered thee
That time Il kingly trinity.
And now, bright blazoned on thy shield,
q h' VI I III
Guarding thy faith on many IA field,
Nor lilly, nor stern Wallenstein
Might stay this champion of thine,
Who, living, loved thee, n thy name,
nd, dying, left thee his great fame.
Time passes. Europe is convulsed!
Thrones totter! Empires reel, and fall!
h mighty Corsican, repulsed
by famine, frost, n Moscow's pail
OF funeral flame, now ventures all
On IplnSip's tipll then foiinl NuithIrpU
To meet his fate at Waterloo.
Amid this wreck of nations, see!
Thy great peninsula is sowu
with seeds of ripening unity
Two states uphold Il single throne,
With constitution. each its own,
Observation-Disclosures,
Their bond, defense, and amlty.
Hail then Twin Sisters of the NORTH
Norway nd Sweden-Oceau born,
From womb of Chaos leapt we forth
Alp-crOwned, upon creations morn
In rugged beauty; then f%orlorn,
In love with you. sol gagged his run,
And made you Land of Midnight sun"
Long may We prosper side by side
n your wild GRANDEUR May there be
NaIght but your mountains to divide
To circumvent you, but the sea
While doth clasp both so lovingly;
And be the day not distant when
Denmark shall join with you again.
Then, Scandinavia, shalt thou be
"A perfect, whole, united realm
OF equal States, whose destiny
High, and assured, no foe might whelm,
For, so, in triple strength the helm
Were aye secure in thine own hand
To guide thy ship of "Fatherland."
Then waving glorious through the fog
OF olden strife, like flags of flame
Saint Olaf's standard, Dannebrog,-
And Sweden's banner might proclaim
From one three-pointed staff, this name.
Borne up 10y one three wristod hand:
Hope OF the Northmens' Fatherlahd."