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Translated by Bayard Taylor
WITH strong foot tread the holy ground, | |
| Our snow-land’s King, the lofty-hearted, | |
| Who from thy royal home hast parted, | |
| To greet these hills that guard us round! | |
| Our Freedom’s scroll thy hand hath lent us, | 5 |
| The first of kings whom God has sent us, | |
| Hail! welcome to our country’s heart! | |
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| Land’s-father, here the Law-Mount view! | |
| Behold God’s works in all their vastness! | |
| Where saw’st thou Freedom’s fairer fastness, | 10 |
| With fire-heaved ramparts, waters blue? | |
| Here sprang the sagas of our splendor: | |
| Here every Iceland heart is tender: | |
| God built this altar for his flock! | |
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| Here, as in thousand years of old, | 15 |
| Sound the same words, a voice unended, | |
| As when their life and law defended | |
| The spearmen with their shields of gold: | |
| The same land yet the same speech giveth, | |
| The ancient soul of Freedom liveth, | 20 |
| And hither, King, we welcome thee! | |
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| But now are past a thousand years, | |
| As in the people’s memory hoarded, | |
| And in God’s volume stand recorded | |
| Their strife and trial, woes and fears; | 25 |
| Now let the hope of better ages | |
| Be what thy presence, King! presages,— | |
| Now let the prosperous time be sure! | |
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| Our land to thee her thanks shall yield, | |
| A thousand years thy name be chanted, | 30 |
| Here, where the Hill of Law is planted, | |
| ’Twixt fiery fount and lava-field: | |
| We pray All-Father, our dependence, | |
| To bless thee and thy far descendants, | |
| And those they rule, a thousand years! | 35 |
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