Ek hef óðar lokri,
ǫlstafna, þér skafna,
væn mǫrk, — skala verki
vandr — stefknarrar branda.
Ek hef skafna þér branda stefknarrar lokri óðar, væn mǫrk ǫlstafna; verki skala vandr.
I have smoothed the bows of the refrain-ship [DRÁPA > UPPHAF] for you with the plane of poetry [TONGUE], beautiful forest of ale-prows [DRINKING HORNS > WOMAN]; the poem should not be difficult.
[1] hef: ‘[…]’ U
[1] ek hef ‘I have’: The older form ek hef has been adopted here in place of the later ek hefi used in the mss (cf. ANG §532.6).