Announcing Norway's Centennial Anniversary Poetry Competition Winners

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Jun 9, 2005

This year, Norway celebrates a remarkable 100 years of independence. In honor of this grand occasion, readers have been sending in their own original poetry for Norwegian Culture's Centennial Anniversary Poetry Competition. After a difficult deliberation, three winners (Susi Lyback-Dahl, Karen Pollard, and David Moe) were selected for their expressive nature and obvious engagement in the topic of national sentiment. Each winner was awarded a copy of Norwegian Culture: Perspectives in Traditional and Contemporary Society.

Just Farmers and Fishermen (les på norsk)

Just farmers and fishermen,
So hear we still today.
Not so fine are country folk
As rich men with their big ways.

But so it was only farmers
And fishermen who gathered then,
To bring our beloved country
To freedom for all women and men.

The seventeenth of May was a day
That became bigger than any could see.
So is it with farmers and fishermen,
It is they who can show us the way.

The way to life is humble.
To serve is the greatest of all.
One needs neither means nor money,
But goodness and peace in one's goal.

By Susi Lyback-Dahl May 11, 2005

Susi Marie Lyback-Dahl is a Minnesota-born Norwegian American whose father's parents and mother's grandparents all came from Norway. Her Norwegian heritage has played a vital role in her life, leading her to study the language while a student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, serve on the staff of Camp Norway twice, run her own Scandinavian gift shop for ten years, write and illustrate a children's book about her immigrant grandparents, paint Norwegian scenes, teach Norwegian via community education, and perform Norwegian folk music for Sons of Norway lodges and other groups. She is also a licensed social worker, grantwriter and community organizer.

Norway Lives

Like living water pouring from the steep mountain pitcher of life, So Norway's rich traditions and ways are passed along from generation to generation.

Young girl's dressed up in their national costumes adorn the streets like jewels making their way to churches for confirmation. Church bells toll and the brisk morning breeze gives lift to the flag which unfurls it's blue and white cross across a sea of red, as if to salute the day.

Norway greets the day with its natural beauty, so exquisite ~ beyond description! How does one communicate the majesty of glacial covered rocky peaks? Can there be a written description of the wonder of it all?

Steep mountain cliffs tumble majestically into the depths of fjord waters below.