Henrik Ibsen Poems

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 NOW, rallying once if ne'er again, 
With flag at half-mast flown, 
A people in dire need and strain 
Mans Tyra's bastion. 

Betrayed in danger's hour, betrayed 
Before the stress of strife! 
Was this the meaning that it had-- 
That clasp of hands at Axelstad 
Which gave the North new life? 

The words that seemed as if they rushed 
From...Read more of this...

 TO skies that were brighter 
Turned he his prows; 
To gods that were lighter 
Made he his vows. 

The snow-land's mountains 
Sank in the deep; 
Sunnier fountains 
Lulled him to sleep. 

He burns his vessels, 
The smoke flung forth 
On blue cloud-trestles 
A bridge to the north. 

From the sun-warmed lowland 
Each night that betides, 
To the huts of...Read more of this...

 WITH palette laden 
She sat, as I passed her, 
A dainty maiden 
Before an Old Master. 

What mountain-top is 
She bent upon? Ah, 
She neatly copies 
Murillo's Madonna. 

But rapt and brimming 
The eyes' full chalice says 
The heart builds dreaming 
Its fairy-palaces. 

* * * 

The eighteenth year rolled 
By, ere returning, 
I greeted the dear old 
Scenes...Read more of this...

 IN summer dusk the valley lies 
With far-flung shadow veil; 
A cloud-sea laps the precipice 
Before the evening gale: 
The welter of the cloud-waves grey 
Cuts off from keenest sight 
The glacier, looking out by day 
O'er all the district, far away, 
And crowned with golden light. 

But o'er the smouldering cloud-wrack's flow, 
Where gold and amber kiss, 
Stands...Read more of this...

 HER griefs were the hours 
When my struggle was sore,-- 
Her joys were the powers 
That the climber upbore. 

Her home is the boundless 
Free ocean that seems 
To rock, calm and soundless, 
My galleon of dreams. 

Half hers are the glancing 
Creations that throng 
With pageant and dancing 
The ways of my song. 

My fires when they dwindle...Read more of this...

 BEETLING rock, with roar and smoke 
Break before my hammer-stroke! 
Deeper I must thrust and lower 
Till I hear the ring of ore. 

From the mountain's unplumbed night, 
Deep amid the gold-veins bright, 
Diamonds lure me, rubies beckon, 
Treasure-hoard that none may reckon. 

There is peace within the deep-- 
Peace and immemorial sleep; 
Heavy hammer, burst as bidden, 
To...Read more of this...

 NOW they sing the hero loud; -- 
But they sing him in his shroud. 

Torch he kindled for his land; 
On his brow ye set its brand. 

Taught by him to wield a glaive; 
Through his heart the steel ye drave. 

Trolls he smote in hard-fought fields; 
Ye bore him down 'twixt traitor shields. 

But the shining spoils he...Read more of this...

 "GOOD Heavens, man, what a freak of taste! 
What blindness to form and feature! 
The girl's no beauty, and might be placed 
As a hoydenish kind of creature." 

No doubt it were more in the current tone 
And the tide today we move in, 
If I could but choose me to make my own 
A type of our average...Read more of this...

 SEE, dear, what thy lover brings; 
'Tis the flower with the white wings. 
Buoyed upon the quiet stream 
In the spring it lay adream. 

Homelike to bestow this guest, 
Lodge it, dear one, in thy breast; 
There its leaves the secret keep 
Of a wave both still and deep. 

Child, beware the tarn-fed stream; 
Danger, danger, there to dream!...Read more of this...