Living
When Comes the Morning?
Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer (1915) · From Poems and Songs (1870; Palmer 1915)
When comes the real morning?
When golden, the sun's rays hover
Over the earth's snow-cover,
And where the shadows nestle,
Wrestle,
Lifting lightward the root enringèd
Till it shall seem an angel wingèd,
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
But if the weather is bad
And my spirit sad,
Never morning I know.
No.
Truly, it's real morning,
When blossom the buds winter-beaten,
The birds having drunk and eaten
Are glad as they sing, divining
Shining
Great new crowns to the tree-tops given,
Cheering the brooks to the broad ocean riven.
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
But if the weather is bad
And my spirit sad,
Never morning I know.
No.
When comes the real morning?
When power to conquer parries
Sorrow and storm, and carries
Sun to the soul, whose burning
Yearning
Opens in love and calls to others:
Good to be unto all as brothers.
Then it is morning,
Real, real morning.
Greatest power you know
--And most dangerous, lo!--
Will you this then possess?
Yes.
Codex Note
From In God's Way
Cite this poem
MLA
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “When Comes the Morning?” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/127/.
Chicago
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne. “When Comes the Morning?” Translated by Arthur Hubbell Palmer. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bjornson/127/.
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