The
Danes’ true song
The Danes’
true song is a young blond maiden
that hums
contented in Denmark’s land,
a child is
she of the sea-blue kingdom
where wave
hears wave as they meet its strand.
The Danes’
true song, when it’s deepest ringing,
has sounds
of bells, sword and shield in store;
the strains
of sagas towards us winging
that tell
of Denmark in days of yore.
All
Zealand’s charm and all Jutland’s powers,
that twain
refrain of both mild and hard
must be
encompassed to tell what’s ours,
to tell how
we ourselves would regard.
As each
time changes, each custom mellows,
but art and
struggle for steel still call:
the soul is
tempered by altar bellows
that fan
the flames from our Bjarkamál.
So Denmark,
sing, let the heart speak freely!
Its
heartfelt language is verse and song,
from
nightingales we can learn to hear you,
from larks
whose trills are both loud and long.
The wind’s
wild ballad breaks loose its tether,
the solemn
lay of the shore is sung;
from city
pavement and moorland heather
our song is
rising, both glad and young.
Kai Hoffmann 1874-1949 (text 1924)
Carl Nielsen 1865-1931 (music 1926)
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