BURNT SHIPS

by: Henrik Ibsen

      O skies that were brighter
      Turned he his prows;
      To gods that were lighter
      Made he his vows.
       
      The snow-land's mountains
      Sank in the deep;
      Sunnier fountains
      Lulled him to sleep.
       
      He burns his vessels,
      The smoke flung forth
      On blue cloud-trestles
      A bridge to the north.
       
      From the sun-warmed lowland
      Each night that betides,
      To the huts of the snow-land
      A horseman rides.

'Burnt Ships' was originally written in 1871. This English translation is reprinted from Lyrics & Poems from Ibsen. Trans. Fydell Edmund Garrett. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1912.

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