Ivar Aasen
Old Norway is our own ancestral land.
There are seas that totally surround the shoreline
There are bays, peninsulas, islands, thousands of fjords,
Mountains, where the snow rarely melts, and
Valleys, where the enormous waterfalls fall.
Hard are the long winters, yet green our spruce forests stand.
Where the foliage on the hills shoots forth,
Beautiful colors reach our neighborhood.
Great days and short nights pass gently around the bright earth,
Coast and fjord, and mountain farms bask in sunlight from south to north.
The children of those who built the land are still on the foundations,
The farms stand on old locales built and repaired as the farmer desires.
Accustomed to hardship more than to playfulness,
The people’s song plays on land and sea.
May the people sit with dignity and enjoy safety and peace.
Old Norway is our own ancestral land.
(Translations from “Sangerfest Program”)