Long Before The Vikings, America, canada And Greenland Poem by Tor Magnor Solvang

Long, long ago, when lands were new,
People walked where oceans blue
Now gleam and stretch, a distant sight,
Beneath a sun, both warm and bright.

From Asia's shores, across the ice,
They journeyed far, at no great price.
Ten thousand years, and then some more,
They found a vast and waiting shore.

Greenland too, a land of snow,
Saw ancient feet begin to go.
The Inuit came, with skill and grace,
To make their home in that cold place.

They hunted, fished, and built their lives,
With spirits strong, like busy hives.
They knew the earth, the sky, the sea,
Content and wild, and truly free.

Then ships arrived, from lands afar,
Guided by a foreign star.
They saw the people, saw the land,
And claimed it all with greedy hand.

A map was drawn, a name was made,
By men who thought their deeds were swayed
By something new, a world unknown,
A seed of power they had sown.

They called it 'America, ' a word so grand,
For lands already in another's hand.
But long before that name took hold,
These ancient stories had been told.

The people here, with roots so deep,
Were here when secrets the mountains keep.
Before the ships, before the claim,
Their lives were lived, without a name.