The Poetry Corner

Young Men And Women, Strong And Sound

By Bjrnstjerne Martinius Bjrnson

Young men and women, strong and sound, Adorn with beautiful excess Of play and song and flower-dress Our fatherland's ancestral ground. They dream great deeds of ages older, They long to lead to battles bolder. Young men and women, strong and sound, Our nation's honor are, in whom Our whole life has its better bloom, Rebirth upon our fathers' ground Of them of yore. Anew there flower The old in young folks' summer-power. Young men and women, strong and sound, Can doubly do our deeds and fill With higher hope for all we will, - Are growth in character's deep ground, To larger life drawn by the spirit They from our forefathers inherit.