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At A Banquet For Professor Ludv. Kr. Daa
By Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson
(See Note 58)
Youthful friends here a circle form,
Elder foes now surrender.
Feel among us in safety, warm,
Toward you our hearts are tender.
Once again on a hard-fought day
Hero-like you have led the way,
Smiting all that before you stood; -
But now be good!
With no hubbub, without champagne,
Dress-suit, and party-collar,
We would honor o'er viands plain
Grateful our "grand old scholar"!
When all quiet are wind and wave,
Seldom we see this pilot brave; -
When storm-surges our ship might whelm,
He takes the helm!
- Takes the helm and through thick and thin
(Clear are his old eyes burning),
Steers the course with his trusty "grin,"
Straight, where the others are turning!
Thanks gave to him I know not who,
For he scolded the skipper, too! -
Back he went to his home right soon:
We had the boon.
He has felt what it is to go
Hated, till truth gains the battle;
He has felt what it is to know
Blows that from both sides rattle.
He has felt what the cost is, so
Forward the present its path to show:
He, whose strength had such heights attained,
Stood all disdained.
Would that Norway soon grew so great
That it with justice rewarded
Heroes who its true weal create,
Who are no laggards sordid.
Shall we always so slowly crawl,
Split forever in factions small,
Idly counting each ill that ails? -
No! Set the sails!
Set the sails for the larger life,
Whereto our nation has power!
Daily life is with death but rife,
If there's not growth every hour.
Rally to war for the cause of right,
Sing 'neath the standard of honor bright,
Sail with faith in our God secure,
And strong endure
Extra Info:
TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN IN THE ORIGINAL METERS BY ARTHUR HUBBELL PALMER
Professor of the German Language and Literature In Yale University
Note 58.
AT A BANQUET FOR PROFESSOR LUDV. KR. DAA. The historian,
geographer, ethnologist, publicist, editor, and political leader,
Ludvig Kristensen Daa, was born August 19, 1809, and died June 12,
1877. As a friend of Wergeland he was a liberal of the old stamp,
later an ardent supporter of the Sverdrup-Björnson policies, and
elected three times to the Storting. He was early a leader of the
National party among the students. Too independent ever to submit
wholly to party control, he was always more or less in opposition.
In the flourishing times of Scandinavism he was prominent and of
excellent influence. Because of his political opposition to the
Conservative government of Stang, he did not receive the merited
University professorship of history until 1863. Although feared as a
caustic writer by all, he was warm-hearted and in reality a noble
personality, one of the most original and best figures in the modern
history of Norway. This poem must have been written soon after
1870.
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