Mountain Song, by Bjornstjerne Bjornson

Wind River Peak, WY. Photo by Hannah Rose Shogren Smith

I don't have much time to enjoy them now, but I am a big fan of audiobooks. The experience of listening to a story, rather than silently reading it, has its own special charm. My first exposure to Jules Verne was through a book-on-tape version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, at the age of 6 or 7. (It was an abridged edition--still terrifying.) The scene where Axel becomes separated from his two companions in the pitch-black subterranean tunnels still rings extremely vividly in my memory, in a way I'm sure it wouldn't if I'd first read it in a book. The human voices pulled me almost physically into the story.

So imagine my delight when a few years ago I came across a website completely devoted to producing free audiobooks. This website is Librivox.org. They are a worldwide group of volunteers who record works in the public domain and post them on the site for anyone to download and enjoy. So it's a perfect place for someone like me, who loves both audiobooks and the classics. They also encourage recordings in other languages than English (so that, when I was studying French last year, I was able to listen to Verne and Dumas in their original tongue--not that I understood it well, but it was an interesting exercise). But one of my favorite things about Librivox is the fact that whenever I'm there I always stumble upon some gem I had no idea existed. A year ago I discovered Stevenson's Father Damien letter (see my post on that here). More recently, I tripped over George Macdonald's Phantastes--the fairy tale that proved crucial in the conversion of C.S. Lewis. And just a few weeks ago, I uncovered a delightful little poem about mountains by a Norwegian author, Bjornstjerne Bjornson.

The poem, "Mountain Song", is an English translation of the original Norwegian from Bjornson's novel A Happy Boy. Although the poem refers to the mountains of Norway, it attracted me at once because it reminded me of my experience hiking in Wyoming--both physically and spiritually. Here it is--and here is a link to the Librivox page, if you care to listen along!

Mountain Song

By Bjornstjerne Bjornson

 

When you will the mountains roam

And your pack are making,

Put therein not much from home,

Light shall be your taking!

Drag no valley-fetters strong

To those upland spaces,

Toss them with a joyous song

To the mountains' bases!

 

Birds sing Hail! from many a bough,

Gone the fools' vain talking,

Purer breezes fan your brow,

You the heights are walking.

Fill your breast and sing with joy!

Childhood's mem'ries starting,

Nod with blushing cheeks and coy,

Bush and heather parting.

 

If you stop and listen long,

You will hear upwelling

Solitude's unmeasured song

To your ear full swelling;

And when now there purls a brook,

Now stones roll and tumble,

Hear the duty you forsook

In a world-wide rumble.

 

Fear, but pray, you anxious soul,

While your mem'ries meet you!

Thus go on; the perfect whole

On the top shall greet you.

Christ, Elijah, Moses, there

Wait your high endeavor.

Seeing them you'll know no care,

Bless your path forever.

 

The language is deceptively simple. Anyone who's ever travelled on foot in the mountains will be familiar with those "purer breezes", that "unmeasured song of solitude". Naturally I am now curious about this Bjornson fellow. Aside from Norse legends, I've never touched Scandinavian literature. Perhaps I should try it?