Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The Kings Welcome to Thingvalla
By Matthías Jochumsson (18351920)W
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,
The first of kings whom God has sent us,
Hail! welcome to our country’s heart!
Behold God’s works in all their vastness!
Where saw’st thou Freedom’s fairer fastness,
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!
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,
And hither, King, we welcome thee!
As in the people’s memory hoarded,
And in God’s volume stand recorded
Their strife and trial, woes and fears;
Now let the hope of better ages
Be what thy presence, King! presages,—
Now let the prosperous time be sure!
A thousand years thy name be chanted,
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!