Master or slave

Lo, this land that lifts around it
Threatening peaks, while stern seas bound it,
With cold winters, summers bleak,
Curtly smiling, never meek,
'Tis the giant we must master,
Till he work our will the faster.
He shall carry, though he clamor,
He shall haul and saw and hammer,
Turn to light the tumbling torrent,-
All his din and rage abhorrent
Shall, if we but do our duty,
Win for us a realm of beauty.

poem by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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