Eg oyggjar veit - I know some islands

Eg oyggjar veit, sum hava fjøll 
og grøna lìð,
og taktar eru tær við mjøll 
um vetratìð,
og àir renna vakrar har 
og fossa nògv,
tær vilja allar skunda sær 
ì blàan sjogv
Gud signi mìtt føðiland Føroyar

This is the first verse of the song Eg Oyggjar Veit, written by Frìðrikur Petersen. The audio track of this verse can be heard, along with all other tracks from the textbook "Faroese: A Language Course for Beginners" on the Stiðin website (Stiðin is a Faroese publisher).

The verse sums up the Faroe Islands almost too well, although there is much more to the Faroe's than the steep mountains and cascading rivers described in it. Yet, it's likely to be this image that holds our imagination best. There are six verses to this song but I have yet to find a complete translation of it. Maybe the rest of the song adequately describes the other beautiful aspects of the Faroes, like life, the birds, the fog and clouds, the wind and sea... okay, it was written some time in the 19th century and we know much has changed since then, and though the nature remains, I don't imagine the song reflects on the network of tunnels that wind through the mountains and under the sea, and the modern network of paved roads that has begun to replace the village paths. Well, I can think of these as I experienced them last summer, or as I've known about them for some time before that, thinking in wonderment about these islands and their mountains and the roads that keep the Faroese people connected. Only later did I learn about the ferry and helicopter connections between the remote villages, and later about the language that has connected the Faroese people for so long. And I only need to recall 'I know some islands' to be connected to the wealth of thoughts, images and feelings that I now have of this place.