The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1977, Blaðsíða 36

34
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
AUTUMN 1977
Howard Brandt is a resident of
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. He
writes: ‘I saw a copy of your magazine
while visiting my brother-in-law and
sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Bjornson of
Riverton. We had the pleasure of visiting
the sites and features of Icelandic
Manitoba with them. In memory of
these occasions I have written a couple
of poems’.
One of these poems is ‘Icelandic
Celebration’.
—Editor
+ + +
ICELANDIC CELEBRATION
In memory of immigrants
From Hekla's lava-covered slants.
Friends celebrate with Iceland's kin
A t Islendingadagurinn.
In eighteen hundred seventy-five
Icelandic scouts, in number five
Reached Manitoba, with intent
To find a site for settlement.
The valley of the River Red
Was plagued with ‘hoppers, live and dead.
Scouts ventured northward to explore
Along Lake Winnipeg’s west shore.
They like the teeming fish and so
They went back to Ontario—
Wisconsin, too—and then returned
With countrymen who westward yearned.
In fall the small Icelandic band
Was landing on the wintry sand
At Willow Point in Gimli Bay
And quickly settled down to stay.
That very year, just months before,
Volcanic rock from Hekla’s core
Exploded, devastating land,
Destroying that which man had planned.
Sigtryggur Jonasson rushed home
And urged his kinsmen west to roam.
By poverty or Utthra spurred.
Twelve hundred took the migrant’s word.
In ‘seventy-six they sailed to seek
New Iceland north of Boundary Creek.
They settled Lundi, Mikley Isle
And Gimli building pier on pile.
That winter smallpox raged and raged.
The folks were quarantined and caged.
The dead by dozens multiplied
Before the epidemic died.
But most survived. The hardy thrived.
In summer herds of cows arrived
To make from grass and hay and seeds
The milk to meet the children’s needs.
New Iceland had a government
To represent the settlement.
A constitution was ordained;
The Althing quarters were retained.
By eighteen seventy-seven schools
Were built, while councils issued rules.
The church was binary in views.
Framfari published all the news.
The skillful fishermen became
Storm-fighting boatsmen of great fame
The lumbermen and farmers, too,
Developed skills that grew and grew.