A BROTHER IN NEED

by: Henrik Ibsen

OW, rallying once if ne'er again,

With flag at half-mast flown,

A people in dire need and strain

Mans Tyra's bastion.

 

Betrayed in danger's hour, betrayed

Before the stress of strife!

Was this the meaning that it had--

That clasp of hands at Axelstad

Which gave the North new life?

 

The words that seemed as if they rushed

From deepest heart-springs out

Were phrases, then! -- the freshet gushed,

And now is fall'n the drought.

The tree, that promised rich in bloom

Mid festal sun and shower,

Stands wind-stript in the louring gloom,

A cross to mark young Norway's tomb,

The first dark testing-hour.

 

They were but Judas kisses, lies

In fatal wreaths enwound,

The cheers of Norway's sons, and cries

Towards the beach of Sound.

What passed that time we watched them meet,

'Twixt Norse and Danish lord?

Oh! nothing! only to repeat

King Gustav's play at Stockholm's seat

With the Twelfth Charles' sword.

 

"A people doomed, whose knell is rung,

Betrayed by every friend!" --

Is the book closed and the song sung?

Is this our Denmark's end?

Who set the craven colophon,

While Germans seized the hold,

And o'er the last Dane lying prone

Old Denmark's tattered flag was thrown

With doubly crimsoned fold?

 

But thou, my brother Norsemen, set

Beyond the war-storm's power

Because thou knewest to forget

Fair words in danger's hour:

Flee from thy homes of ancient fame--

Go chase a new sunrise--

Pursue oblivion, and for shame

Disguise thee in a stranger's name

To hide from thine own eyes!

 

Each wind that sighs from Danish waves

Through Norway's woods of pine,

Of thy pale lips an answer craves:

Where wast thou, brother mine?

I fought for both a deadly fight;

In vain to spy thy prow

O'er belt and fiord I strained my sight:

My fatherland with graves grew white:

My brother, where wast thou?

 

It was a dream! Arise, awake

To do a nation's deed!

Each to his post, swift counsel take;

A brother is in need!

A nobler song may yet be sung--

Danes, Danes, keep Tyra's hold--

And o'er a Northern era, young

And rich in hope, be proudly flung

The red flag's tattered fold.

• Henrik Ibsen - A biography of the Norwegian poet and dramatist and analysis of his works.
• Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) - A biography of the Norwegian poet and dramatist, plus links to purchase all of his works currently in print.
• Peanuts and the Ibsen Drama - A first-hand account of a performance of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler by Mrs. Fiske.
• The Task of the Poet - Full text of a speech given by Ibsen to a group of Norwegian Students on September 10, 1874.
• Henrik Ibsen: Bibliography - A bibliography of the works of Henrik Ibsen; includes a list of critical and biographical resources.
• When We Dead Awaken - Ibsen's last play.
• Purchase books by Henrik Ibsen