The Mother's Song

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)



Lord! Oh, hold in Thy hand my child,
 Guard by the river its playing!
Send Thou Thy Spirit as comrade mild,
 Lest it be lost in its straying!
Deep is the water and false the ground.
Lord, if His arms shall the child surround,
 Drowned it shall not be, but living,
 Till Thou salvation art giving.

Mother, whom loneliness befalls,
 Knowing not where it is faring,
Goes to the door, and its name there calls;
 Breezes no answer are bearing.
This is her thought, that everywhere
He and Thou for it always care;
 Jesus, its little brother,
 Follows it home to mother.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
112

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCBB DXDBEEFF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 556
Words 104
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit", becoming the first Norwegian Nobel laureate. Bjørnson is considered to be one of The Four Greats (De Fire Store) among Norwegian writers, the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. Bjørnson is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". more…

All Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson poems | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Books

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