Transcendant Beauty in the Ordinary

English translation of “Heyr himna smiður”. The hymn — the oldest known Scandinavian hymn — dates back to the early 13th century when the Icelandic chieftain Kolbeinn Tumason is purported to have written these familiar words on his deathbed. Then, more than seven centuries later, the composer Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson put them to music. Here, in an ordinary train station in Wuppertal, Germany, the group Árstíðir sings. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Hear, smith of the heavens, what the poet asks. May softly come unto me thy mercy. So I call on thee, for thou hast created me. I am thy slave, thou art my Lord. God, I call on thee to heal me. Remember me, mild one,[1] Most we need thee. Drive out, O king of suns, generous and great, human every sorrow from the city of the heart. Watch over me, mild one, Most we need thee, truly every moment in the world of men. send us, son of the virgin, good causes, all aid is from thee, in my heart.